Codename: Lightning
by Preventer Void
Summary: As a new, sinister military force rises to take the world, Preventer and its newest member must look to the past if they want to save their future.
1. Second Life

Codename: Lightning  
A Shin Kidou Senshi Gundam W fanfic by Preventer Void  
Chapter 1: Second Life

* * *

The noonday sun pierced its way through the curtains in the office, casting a golden reflection upon the clear brown sea in Relena Darlian's teacup. She spooned up a modest portion of sugar, poured it into her cup, and stirred it until the white cloud vanished before taking a sip. Setting the cup down, she looked at her companion.

"So, how has everyone been doing?"

Duo Maxwell looked up from the generous helping of cream he was pouring into his tea. "Oh, right. Well, let's see...Zhang and Sally have become quite the team lately."

The young diplomat smiled. "I had a feeling he would outgrow that whole 'women are weak' phase when he met someone who wouldn't take it, like Sally."

"Or you," supplied the braided boy.

"Me? Oh, please. I'd just as soon have killed him with a bobby pin."

He chuckled. "I'd pay to see that. Anyway, Quatre's doing alright, even though he says that there are days when the necktie feels like a noose around his neck."

Relena smiled and shrugged. "I can understand the sentiment. I wasn't really used to being an important government official at age 15, so he's not alone. In fact, tell him that if he needs someone to talk to about it, my doors are always open."

"I'll do just that. Meanwhile, Trowa ran into a girl he knew from his pre-Gundam days, and they've really hit it off."

"That's great. I was starting to feel sorry for him, since everybody else had someone." Instantly, her heart reminded her that her own someone had walked out two years ago and never returned. But this was about her friends, so personal gripes could wait. "Speaking of which, how are things on your side of the world?"

Smiling, Duo took a sip of his tea before replying. "She said yes."

A grin parted her face and she clapped her hands together. "That's wonderful! I hope I'll be on the guest list."

"Of course, unless you're worried about all the public exposure."

Relena shook her head. "For my friends, everything else takes a back seat."

The braided Preventer smirked at her last comment. "How about your family?"

She looked at him, concern showing on her face. "Why? Is something wrong with Milliardo?"

Her friend smiled and rubbed the back of his neck. "Not exactly...unless you consider the fact that he won't be getting much sleep in a few months."

"What?"

"One word: triplets."

The young woman had to keep from spitting her tea across the desk. "WHAT! Why didn't he or Noin tell me?"

Duo shrugged. "Well, he's off at Mars with the terraforming project and he's been busy."

"I'LL say he's been busy!"

That started them laughing, and it was several minutes before either of them could speak. When they did, she couldn't keep herself from asking the question that had been on her mind for two years. "What about Heero? How's he doing?"

Here, the young Gundam pilot looked nervous. He tried to keep from looking at her and instead let his eyes wander around the room. He looked at the wide bookshelves crammed full of dusty tomes, the mahogany desk, the stylish new PC, the...

"Duo!"

His eyes snapped back to Relena, who had that look on her face. One of the things he admired most about the young princess was her tenacity; when she cared about something, she stuck to it like a pit-bull. At the moment, however, he wished she had even an ounce of bend in her. She WOULD know about the Perfect Soldier, come Hell or high water, and he would have to be the one to tell her. Sighing, he summoned up the courage to mumble an answer.

"...Heero got himself a girlfriend."

Duo braced himself for the Apocalypse. He expected it all: crying, shouting, random small objects being thrown...but instead, Relena simply looked a little wide-eyed. "Did he now? Have you met her?"

Still shaky, he nodded and continued. "Um, yeah. Girl named Claire. Works at a radio station at an L1 colony. Nice girl."

She lowered her head to stare into the waning ocean of brown inside her ceramic cup. "I'm happy for him." Her voice was level, even somewhat pleasant. But still, Duo sensed that his presence was making her uncomfortable. Rising to his feet, he thanked her for the tea and left as quietly as possible.

Relena didn't say anything for a long time. After the maid cleared away the dishes, she went back to her bedroom, closed and locked the door, and then she let his words sink in. Instantly, her legs gave out on her and she fell back against the door, slowly sliding down to the floor. The tears came, no matter how she tried to keep up her usual facade of calmness. She shivered and wrapped her arms around her body; it felt cold, even though it was July. But that didn't matter...nothing did. It was over.

She leaned against the door until the digital clock on her nightstand read 10:00. She ignored the butler when the Japanese ambassador came by for their four o'clock meeting. She ignored him when he told her she was going to miss her dinner with the President. She even ignored him when he said that her brother was coming by for his week off. None of his words reached her; she was withdrawn into her own mind, reflecting over and over again on the past four years. Finding him on the beach, dancing with him at the school, talking with him in the Kingdom, listening to his little speech before running off to fight the final battle, and finally collapsing into her arms after stopping the rebellion that following Christmas. When she leaned his head against her shoulder, she thought that everything was perfect: the feel of his soft hair on her cheek, the rhythmic beating of his heart against her chest, the warmth that spread throughout their bodies...but it wasn't. He had vanished a few days later, and the most recent time she heard about him was Duo's gossip this afternoon. He doesn't care, she told herself. You were some dreamy schoolgirl hopelessly chasing that boy, and all the time he thought of you as just a symbol, like everyone else...

She could feel the pressure building behind her eyes. The strain of her work, the careful effort to keep from slipping up and giving her detractors some ammunition against her, the feeling of giving up her youth for everyone else, and now the thought that the one person whom she thought cared didn't...it was too much. She knew that the migraine was coming, and she went to her private bathroom for aspirin. Two, four, six, eight...automatically, without thinking, she popped thirty of the small white pills into her mouth, taking a swig of water between each pair.

As she walked to her bed, she glanced to the side and saw herself in the vanity mirror on her dresser. Her hair was a tangled mess, her eyes were lined with red, and her face was flushed. Her conscience spoke to her in a familiar male voice, telling her to call the hospital. Hearing the even-toned voice, her lips twisted into a snarl and, in a sudden burst of rage, she punched the mirror, disregarding the pain that shot through her knuckles.

"Shut up! Shut the hell up! What do you know! You're just some inhuman solider! You don't understand me at all! And I was the only one who defended you! When everyone else thought you were just some living weapon, I knew you were a human being. Well, maybe I was wrong. Maybe you ARE just some weapon! There's no way you could be human and still miss all the obvious signs I was giving out. Didn't you see! Couldn't you tell how much I loved you? How much I cared about you? How you're the only thing that keeps me going in this miserable excuse for a life? How...how..."

She broke down again, unable to continue her tirade. The throbbing behind her eyes was growing. Without even getting undressed, she went over to her bed and laid down, falling into a fitful sleep soon after.

* * *

Death, Relena thought, wasn't at all like she had suspected. There was no expanse of white clouds filled with relatives long gone. Neither was there a pit of fire and brimstone, roaring with the cries of the damned. In fact, it was more like being hung-over, except that the desire to curl up and die was much greater. She slowly emerged from oblivion with the painful realization that she was, in fact, still alive. If she had been in full control of herself, she would have noted the irony that taking large amounts of headache medicine simply made the pain in her mind worse. However, right now she only cared that she wasn't dead, despite her attempts to remedy the situation. She tried to move, but that just made her head hurt more. 

When she opened her eyes, she saw that she wasn't in her mansion or a hospital, but rather in a bedroom within an unfamiliar apartment. Looking around, she took note of the fact that the furnishings were rather Spartan: the walls were eggshell white, and the only furniture was the bed upon which she lay, a dresser, and a nightstand with a lamp on it. There was a relaxing smell of lavender and vanilla, coupled with a spicy undertone that, without a doubt, marked the residence as a man's. She saw an IV machine set up next to the nightstand, the tube trailing underneath a bandage on her arm. Removing the needle, she stood and walked out the open doorway.

The living room was very similar to the bedroom, which did nothing to allay her suspicions about whose apartment she was in. It was painted the same white, and had only a couch, a couple of chairs, an end table, and a television in an oak entertainment center. She knew who lived here, as plain as if his name were scrawled on the walls in gigantic red letters. As she walked around the room, she could hear the silence of night being broken by the sound of faint snoring. She went to the couch and saw his lean form sprawled out across its length, resting soundly. As she watched him, her earlier anger returned and she had to do her best to keep from strangling him or worse, finding something sharp like a razor or a broken bottle and cutting him just to watch him bleed, to see him suffer a fraction of the pain he had given her. The young girl she had been years before was shocked at such malicious thoughts, but the woman who had lived through loss and suffering accepted them readily.

Fortunately for Heero Yuy, he sensed her presence and awoke from his light slumber before she could act on her violent fantasies. Sitting up, he looked up at Relena, who was hiding her rage behind a neutral mask. "You're up. Are you feeling better?"

Since she wouldn't show her anger, she let it out in her words. "I'd feel a lot better if I was in the hospital or the grave like I wanted. Why am I here?"

Ignoring the dark tone of her voice, he continued on. "Pagan told me that he found you in your bedroom and called the paramedics when he saw that you weren't breathing. Care to explain?"

Inwardly, the young diplomat cursed her family's aged butler for his intervention. "I have nothing to explain to you."

The brunette boy reached into the back pocket of his navy slacks and pulled out a folded piece of paper, and then carefully opened it up and read the message on it. "Then why did they have to pump your stomach to get out almost 10,000 milligrams of aspirin?"

Her violet eyes narrowed on him. "It's none of your concern."

"And why's that?"

She turned away from him, barely able to keep from screaming at him. "I thought you made things clear when you started seeing your new girlfriend."

"Oh, that."

Those two words echoed in Relena's mind until she lost all control. Spinning around, she caught him across the jaw with a right hook, staggering him and sending sharp knives of pain up her arm. When she looked at her hand, she saw the bandages that had been swaddled around it as they began turning red. She looked back to him as he stood up off the couch, a hand gingerly touching his sore cheek.

"And that...?"

She couldn't stop the tears from streaming down her face as she looked into his deep blue eyes. "How can you be so totally clueless! For the past four years, I've all but shouted my feelings for you at the top of my lungs, and you reward me by picking up some other girl? Did you expect me to be happy!"

Heero sighed. "Relena...I'll explain, if you'll let me. Tell me why you're so famous." She answered without hesitation. "My family name." She was still frustrated with the fact that most people saw her as just a living symbol of the long-dead Peacecraft dynasty.

"Exactly, a family built upon the principle of non-violence. And what am I?"

A little confused, she looked at him without malice for the first time since she had woken up. "A Gundam pilot."

He nodded. "Yes. And wouldn't all your detractors just love it if you were seen anywhere near a soldier as famous as I am? How long do you think it would take them to vote you out of the government?"

"Not very." As much as she hated to admit it, he was making plenty of sense.

"That's why I did what I did. Because if I caused you to lose your job, I'd never be able to forgive myself."

"The job doesn't matter! I would gladly throw away my entire career and name just to be with you, Heero!" That caught him off guard. She saw the faintly stunned look in his eyes and continued. "Once, a while ago, I told you that just knowing you were alive made me happy. But now I can't say that anymore. I never realized how completely alone I was before now, and I can't go back to that."

The young soldier looked into her eyes. He could see the tears she was holding back. He remembered seeing that look on her face before, many times in the past. When her adoptive father was assassinated, when her homeland was threatened by the Romafeller Foundation...even on that day when he had washed up on the beach. He wondered if she had held back her tears for that long, and if so, how taxing it was. Heero understood fully well what it was like to deny one's emotions; he had barely escaped from Barton's "re-education" training. Thankfully, Doctor J had thrown out the inhuman regimen and told the boy to keep his heart locked up when he was on the battlefield. And right now, he was about as far as one could get from the battlefield. Without a second thought, he reached out and embraced her, pulling her head against his chest.

Relena cried into his shirt, then and there. And for the first time in nearly three years, she was truly happy.

* * *

She woke up on the bed the following morning, forgetting for a minute where she was. She shook off the mental cobwebs and walked into the living room, where he was asleep on the couch again and snoring almost inaudibly. That brought a smile to her face. Slowly, carefully, she leaned down and kissed his cheek. 

"...Hmm?"

She pulled away from him slightly as his eyes slowly opened. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

Heero sat up and attempted to smooth out his ruffled hair. "Don't worry, I'm a light sleeper. How are you feeling now?"

"Better than ever." She sat down next to his feet and brushed a few strands of hair out of his eyes. He sat up and looked at the wall clock, the number 7:13 glowing in faded red digits.

"Damn, I need to get you back to the hospital before your brother comes after me with a gun...or Tallgeese."

She instantly felt the warmth vanish altogether, as if she had been thrown bare naked into a snowdrift. The familiar emptiness came back with a vengeance. She stood and wandered away from the couch. "I can't."

He looked up at her retreating form. "Relena..."

"I can't!"

The harsh edge in her voice made him flinch as if he had been punched. She looked back at him with pleading eyes. "I didn't mean to yell at you, but I can't go back...to the hospital OR that way of life. If you take me back to that hospital and walk out of my life again, it'll be the same as killing me yourself."

He looked straight into her eyes. "Why? Whenever I saw you on TV, you looked like the happiest person in the Earth Sphere."

Relena looked back at the man she loved. "If you want an explanation, how about we get cleaned up and have something to eat first?" He nodded his consent and started to get up, but she pushed him back down onto the couch. "You get some more sleep. I'll take care of breakfast." A sly smile on her face, she walked out of the bedroom. Shaking his head, Heero lay back down and dozed off again. An hour and a half later, he was pulled back to consciousness by the scent of bacon emanating from the kitchen. Not wanting to deny himself a good breakfast, he rushed into the shower and got done as quickly as possible. The sight that greeted him when he finished changing and entered the kitchen area almost made him do a double take. There was Relena, setting the table, but her clothes...

He thought he had seen her pantsuit folded on the counter in the bathroom, but he passed that off as the fog of morning. Somehow, he couldn't imagine the modest Princess cooking in the nude, as much as that thought enticed him. It turned out that she wasn't wearing her suit, but she wasn't in the altogether either. She removed the apron, revealing a white button-down shirt and a pair of faded blue jeans, the latter belted tightly around her waist.

"Relena...you're..."

She turned at the sound of his voice, hands on her hips and a wry grin spreading across her face. "Are you going to stand around with your jaw slack, or do you want to eat breakfast?"

Breakfast, it turned out, was scrambled eggs and bacon with coffee for him and orange juice for her. Heero wanted to finish eating so they could have their discussion, but that thought vanished when he took a bite of the eggs. They were good...better than the ones he made whenever he made breakfast. He glanced up at her and saw pure satisfaction on her face when she tasted her own cooking. She must not get to cook often, he mused.

They finished the meal at a decent pace, and then she led him back to the living room, where they sat down on the couch. Their eyes met, and he knew that she was ready to resolve his curiosity. "Care to explain where you got the outfit?"

"Well, you didn't expect me to cook in a suit, did you? Besides, I wanted to be more casual, so I borrowed some things from the back of your closet." Relena smiled and ran a hand over the faded denim of her new jeans. "I think I could get used to this."

He fought back a smirk. "Used to what?"

"Wearing jeans, this is the first pair I've worn in my entire life."

For a minute, Heero thought she was teasing him. Then he saw the sincerity in her face and went back in his mind, remembering all the times he had seen her. She had skirts aplenty, with some pants for her suits, but this was indeed the first time he could recall seeing jeans on her.

She went on, bringing him out of his reverie. "That's also the first time in years I've actually cooked for myself or anyone else. My mother...I mean, my adoptive mother, Mrs. Darlian...taught me how to cook, but I've always had someone prepare my meals for me. And as much as I love my cook, I think those eggs tasted better than anything he ever made me."

"Well, he usually cooks out of duty as a paid servant. You did it because you wanted to make me happy, so you put real love into it and made sure I would like it."

A light laugh escaped her lips. "Well well, Heero Yuy, Zen chef? When did you become an expert on the heart of the food?"

He shrugged. "I asked Noin for some tips, since I'm more used to preparing field rations than normal meals. She said that I got the job done, but it wasn't as good as it would have been if I had a real reason to cook."

"'Anyone can fight, but if you put your heart into the battle, and then you'll shine like the brightest star.'"

There was a pause as Heero recalled that quote. "Treize said that, didn't he?"

She nodded briefly. "It was something he told Milliardo when they first met at Victoria Base. I always thought it summed up Treize's personality very well."

"Relena, about the job...what could be so horrible that you don't want to go back?"

With a sigh, she lifted herself off the couch and walked over to a nearby window, which gave her a wide view of the busy city below. "To put it simply...my heart's not in it anymore. When I started with my father's job, I hoped that I could make a difference and actually bring peace. But now..."

She sighed, then looked back at him and continued. "It's strange how one little incident can change everything. I think it all began after Dekim's failed coup d'état. Before that, I got lots of respect from the senators and other office-holders. But a couple of months later, it was like I had become a totally different person. The older ones who used to treat me like a granddaughter started acting like I was some airheaded little blonde intern. And the younger ones...ugh."

"If you don't want to talk about it..."

"No, I promised," she said after another sigh. "The younger ones...well, I won't mince words. They acted like I was there to grant them sexual favors. For the love of God, one of them actually tried to slip me some Rohypnol at a state dinner."

Heero's eyes narrowed at that name. "Rohypnol, the date-rape drug."

She nodded. "I only learned about it because he dropped the bottle and I picked it up while he was in the men's room. The worst part is, I couldn't report him."

He jumped up from the couch, the anger in his voice all too apparent now. "Why not!"

"Because, as he so 'kindly' put it, my word isn't worth jack shit in the UN government nowadays. If I told people about what he did, he would have just said I was lying and everyone would believe him. The truth would have ruined me."

The dark-haired boy plopped back down onto the couch with a sigh. "How did that one incident change you from the most respected member of the government into a lame duck?"

Relena walked back over and sat down next to him. "Because I was captured so easily, it made me look like one of those fairytale princesses who constantly needs to be rescued. On top of that, Preventer, of which I was a strong supporter, was almost totally powerless. Without the Gundams, Dekim would have won."

"Preventer isn't powerless anymore. All of us except for Quatre have joined up, and we're working on ways to deal with future crises."

She looked into his eyes, and he could see the pain she had endured. At the same time, she saw a familiar look of loneliness she had worn all too often before. She made her decision; if anything was going to change, she would have to do it herself. Her hand settled on top of his and she looked into his eyes. "I think I'm ready to go back now."

His eyes showed the confusion that last comment brought to his face. "After all that, you still want to go back? But..."

She put a finger to his lips, stopping him in mid-sentence. "I plan on doing something about it. Please trust me." He nodded his approval, and she leaned in for a kiss. After they broke away, he helped her to her feet. "You're going to need to change. Something tells me that Zechs would have a heart attack if you showed up in that."

She smiled and started off for the bathroom to get her clothes, but then she stopped and looked up at him. He could see something in her eyes. "What is it?"

Trying to hold back her anxiety, she looked him in the eyes and said, "I'll need your help with this, but I don't know if you'll approve..."

He smiked. "How bad could it be?"

* * *

"I see they're still talking about it." 

Heero glanced up from his newspaper and saw Duo, a look of concern on his face. The braided teen was apparently indicating the front page story about the recovery of the Vice Foreign Minister's shuttle...or what was left of it, rather. Nonchalantly, the Perfect Soldier went back to the article he was reading.

"Hey, aren't you going to say something? Relena's shuttle blew up last month and all you can do is read the goddamned paper!"

At that point, Heero stood and folded the paper. "Maxwell, you're overreacting again. Now calm down before you wet yourself."

Duo was incredulous. For ages, he had defended his friend's humanity against the accusations of people who called him a robot. But now he was even starting to doubt it himself. Maybe it was denial? Or was he trying to put on a strong face? Whatever the reason, Heero's face changed not a bit.

Just then, the phone on Heero's desk rang. He hit the speaker button. "Yes?"

A feminine voice came in through the tiny speaker, distorted by faint static. "That new recruit is here, shall I..."

"Go right ahead," he interrupted. The door opened, and in she walked. Instantly, Duo's jaw dropped. Heero simply raised his eyebrows.

She was wearing a denim jacket over a forest green halter-top, which was tucked into a denim miniskirt. Her pair of knee-high leather boots made faint thuds against the carpeting as she stepped in. Her fiery red hair gleamed in the sunlight like a polished ruby. The second her violet eyes met Heero's, a sly grin crossed her face.

"Good afternoon, Mister Yuy."

Heero nodded. "How's everything been going?"

"You can imagine how my brother tried to get me to reconsider, but Noin helped me convince him." She paused when she noticed Duo, lips moving like a goldfish's. "Gee, did I break his brain?"

With a smirk, Heero rose from his chair. "You can't break what never existed in the first place. Shall I give you the guided tour?"

Her smile broadened. "Sounds like fun."

They started out the door, but she stopped and looked back at Duo. "Five dollars says he's still like this when we get back."

"You're on."

The sounds of their friendly conversation faded down the hallway as Maxwell returned to reality. He looked at the open doorway and shook his head. "I need a drink."


	2. Lightning Strikes

Codename: Lightning  
A Shin Kidou Senshi Gundam W fanfic by Preventer Void  
Chapter 2: Lightning Strikes

* * *

She knew they were here. It was all just a matter of finding them. 

Relena sidled along the wall of the building, trying to get close enough to peer around the edge. When she did, she only poked enough of her head around so that one eye could look; Heero had taught her that it was less obvious that way. She saw her prey: a man about her age with short blonde hair, wearing a navy blue jumpsuit. He was casting furtive glances here and there, looking for more targets as well. She smirked; an amateur mistake. Before he could react, she rolled out from behind the building and fired her pistol. He whirled around to get a look at her, then fell over.

She breathed a sigh of relief, then saw that she was out of ammo. Just then, someone came up behind her. On instinct, she wheeled around and threw her now useless piece at her assailant, knocking the gun from her hands and stunning her for a second. Taking the opportunity, Relena swept the girl's legs out from under her before scooping up the gun and putting a round into her assassin-turned-victim. She took a second to take a couple of full clips from her fallen foes before retreating back into a nearby storefront.

* * *

Duo Maxwell let out a low whistle. "Wow, damn impressive for only a couple of months of informal training." 

In the control room, four of the young men once known as the Gundam pilots were watching their friend's performance on closed-circuit television. Trowa nodded approvingly. "I take it throwing the gun was something you taught her specifically."

Heero swallowed the sip of coffee in his mouth before replying. "Even if you run out of bullets, it can still be useful."

"Did you teach her how to pop a broken bone back into place?" teased Quatre.

"She wanted me to, but I said no because it takes a lot more training...and I suspect she just wanted to gross Maxwell out."

Duo smirked. "Thanks."

"I only stopped her because that's my job." By the look on the Perfect Soldier's face, it was impossible to tell if he was joking or dead serious.

Trowa chose that moment to interrupt. "You know, she's doing pretty well for someone who only touched a gun once in her life...especially in the City."

The City was the affectionate nickname that Preventers agents gave to the proving grounds that were home to the final test of potential agents' gunplay skills. The five-mile cube, contained nearby Preventer's L1 office, was designed as a mock-up of a downtown setting. After being tested for at the firing range, trainees were brought here to see if they could differentiate between suspects and civilians in the heat of the moment. Then came the final test: all the potentials were handed vests and laser-tag pistols and sent into the City with instructions to be the last one standing. One hit, and you're dead. This final test was intended to be the ultimate test of shooting ability and concentration under pressure. Twenty potentials were sent in each time; the ten who were "killed" first were dismissed, while the two who lasted the longest were assigned leadership positions for the remainder of the training.

The guys stopped their friendly conversation when they saw Relena make a dash across the street. She felt a brief, almost electric flash run through her body, then spontaneously leapt behind a nearby car. Punching up another camera, Trowa saw the cause of her action: one of the other trainees had taken up a sniper's position on top of a nearby building.

"It also says something for her skill when she can see bullets coming."

The braided teen scoffed. "Oh please...this isn't one of those movies, Trowa."

With a faint smile, Trowa replied "Then explain how she dodged a sniper's shot from ten blocks away."

Duo fumbled for a reply, and the others simply shook their heads and went back to the action. A navy-colored object darted out from behind the car and was immediately riddled with lasers, but the telltale buzz that accompanied a kill was missing. The would-be sniper blinked in confusion and stood up...only to be taken down. Checking another camera, they saw Relena hiding behind the car, a wicked smile on her face and very little on her body. She reached over and pulled the mannequin, clad in her jumpsuit, back to her. In the control room, Heero lightly slapped Duo upside the head.

"OW! What was that for!"

"You know what you did."

"Hey, I wasn't the only one looking at her," he said while casting accusing glances at their two friends.

"Maxwell, she already had one physical. She doesn't need you giving her another...or would you rather your fiancée found out about this?"

Duo froze; that one comment had instilled in him the Fear of God...or rather, Fear of Hilde. "Sorry, sorry!"

After only a momentary pause, Trowa filled the silence by asking "So...she doesn't wear a bra?"

Heero shook his head. "Sometimes I wonder about that girl."

"Hey! How come you don't smack him!"

Quatre rubbed the back of his head nervously. "You were the only one who was drooling, Duo."

The rest of the session was relatively uneventful. After avoiding a similar decoy and finishing off the two remaining trainees, an airhorn sounded and the twenty met in the central park. Their supervisor, Zhang Wu Fei, rose from the park bench he had occupied during the training and looked them over. "Not bad. Miss Nakajima," he addressed Relena, "the use of a decoy was...creative."

A couple of the males looked as if they agreed, but that wasn't the sort of thing you said to the Iron Master, as the rather harsh Zhang was known. He ran a tighter ship than most drill instructors; if Wu Fei told you to jump, you had better damn well jump as high as your bony legs would let you, then take the abuse for it not being high enough. Despite all this, Relena cleared her throat for attention.

"...Yes?"

She looked the Chinese Gundam pilot straight in the eye - which impressed some of the other recruits greatly - and spoke up. "To be honest, sir, the training has one major flaw."

Back in the control room, the guys groaned in horror. The second Wu Fei had been told who "Reiko Nakajima" actually was, he got one of those looks on his face. It was the sort of look he had worn before launching into one of his famous "Justice Rants (tm)", as Duo referred to them. The last thing Relena needed now was to cross him. Sure, he was harsh on the rookies, but they still suspected that there was some personal animosity between the Pacifist Princess and the Fierce Dragon. Give him any excuse, and she was out.

Wu Fei put his hands on his hips. "And that flaw would be..."

"Well, to be frank, the assumption that everyone uses the same kind of gun. In a real-life situation, you aren't going to be able to raid everyone for clips. It would make more sense for there to be five or six different kinds of guns so that the chance of finding compatible ammunition would be more realistic."

Duo choked on his coffee. "She's questioning the City! You don't question the City!"

"Relena..." Heero ground her name out through clenched teeth. "Don't piss him off."

Back in the "park", Zhang looked at her seriously. "That's true, but there's an issue with that. An agent is expected to be responsible enough to take plenty of ammunition with them on missions. The City is simplified, but if you can't work out the difference between training and reality then you shouldn't bother applying."

Satisfied with the answer, Relena nodded. "Understood. Sorry for the interruption."

The guys in the control room let out a collective sigh of relief. "Thank God he didn't kick her out then and there," Quatre said.

Trowa finished calculating the results, then turned on the microphone. "We have the assignments. Nakajima leads Team Alpha with Seabrook, Luciano, Brogan and Heinz. Masters leads Team Bravo with Perez, Halia, Archer and Jennings. Everyone else is out." He switched the microphone off and leaned back in his chair. "Congratulations, she's the top scorer."

Heero shook his head. "I didn't teach her anything except the basics of hand-to-hand, gun combat, piloting and hacking. The rest she just picked up on her own. She's really sharp."

Quatre rose to his feet and dusted the doughnut crumbs off his tan suit. "I'd love to stay around longer, but I don't think I can keep passing these friendly visits off as extended lunches. I'll see you later...just be sure to let me know how she does." With that, he left.

Into the silence, Duo interjected a question: "What now?"

Heero looked over at his teammate seriously. "After the supplementary training, she gets put through the final test..."

* * *

"So, Mister Yuy, how did I do?" 

Heero continued typing away at his laptop as a pair of slender arms wrapped around his chest from behind and Relena's face came over his shoulder. "Well?"

"You did alright" was all he said.

After a minute of silence, she pulled herself away and flopped down on the sofa. He finished his work and looked back over at her. It was plainly obvious that she was mad at him, but right now he didn't know if it was a better idea to go and talk to her or to let her cool down. Hoping his guess was right; he went over to sit with her. "Relena, I..."

She frowned and stretched her legs across the length of the sofa. "Sorry, this couch is reserved for people who aren't being complete and total assholes."

He sighed and started back for his room. "Never mind, forget I even bothered."

"Heero..."

"No, sorry, complete and total assholes aren't allowed, remember?"

She sat up and looked at his retreating form. His weak reply had hurt her, but seeing him unhappy hurt more, since she knew it was her own fault. Rising from the couch, she headed for the bathroom.

Heero lay back on the bed, staring at the ivory ceiling. Had he made a mistake agreeing to this? She had already changed so much; in the month since she had become "Reiko", her personality had become the polar opposite of Relena's. Flashy, sarcastic, even quick to anger...this wasn't the woman he loved. For a while, he had even wondered if she HAD died in that explosion, only to give birth to this new girl. He knew that was absurd, but something still felt wrong...

"Heero?"

He sat up at the sound of her voice. To his wonder, she wasn't in her usual sleeping clothes, a black tank top and gray sweatpants. Instead, she was wearing an elegant white silk nightgown with spahgetti straps and lacy fringe. It was one of the only articles of clothing she had her brother bring back from the mansion. Even more surprising, her hair was back to its natural light brown.

"Relena?"

"...Yeah." She shut the door and went over to him, her step less lively than normal. She sat on the edge of the bed, a slit up the side of the nightgown revealing her shapely leg.

"You're not wearing your usual pajamas," he observed.

"No."

"And your hair..."

"Yes?"

Heero put his arms around his knees and looked into her pale violet eyes. "Relena, why?"

She slid closer to him and set her hand on top of his. "Heero, I..." She sighed. "I'm sorry, I know I've been acting strangely lately, but this is the first time in my life that I've actually been able to be something other than Relena Peacecraft, and I like it. I'm sorry if I hurt you...I didn't mean to."

"I know you didn't, it's just..."

"What?"

Remembering her actions earlier in the day, he looked out the window at the star-streaked night sky. "...There have been times where I wonder if you're not another person entirely. The way you act, sometimes I'm not sure this was a good idea."

She sighed. "I'm sorry, I just...I don't even know anymore. Would you rather I went back to my old life?"

He closed his eyes, resisting the urge to look at her again. "I want you to do what makes you happy. But...it's like you're not the woman I love when I see you do things like you did today."

"I...I'm sorry. It's not like I planned on doing that. It just came to me off the top of my head."

He shook his head, then glanced at her. "That's not all. You swear...you hit people...you act, to be perfectly honest, a lot more crudely than you used to. It's like you're not yourself anymore."

She met his eyes, her face deadly serious. "I'm not supposed to be."

"I know, but when I see Reiko, I feel nothing. When I see you like this, I remember why I fell in love with you."

"I don't want to lose you. It's just...maybe this wasn't a good idea. I did this so I could be near you. You know that."

He nodded. "I know, but is this what you're really like? Are you telling me that Reiko has been hiding behind Relena since she was a little girl, and your real personality is what I saw in the City today?"

"No...no, I just...I think it's just all the pent-up frustration of having so much responsibility at such a young age. I mean, come on, Princess of my own nation, Queen of the World, then Vice-Foreign Minister all by 16? All that pressure...do you understand what I went through?"

He rose to his feet, shaking his head. "No, I don't. And I suspect I never will. But all I can do now is support you in whatever you chose to do. And if that's what you want to be, then I'll support you."

She stood, put her hand on his cheek and met his eyes once more. "I want to be with you."

"And I want to be with you...but I don't love Reiko, I love Relena. If that bothers you, then I'll leave."

"No...I don't want you to leave. I guess I should tone it down...I've been pretty extreme. I just don't want to lose you."

She started to look away, but he put his hand under her chin and lifted her head to look at her again. "I want you to succeed...but I think it'll take Relena's sharp mind and Reiko's iron nerves together to do so. I don't want you to chain yourself to your titles, but at the same time I don't want you to become a totally different person. You should figure out who you really are and become that person."

"Then help me. Please?"

"How should I help you?"

"Just stay with me..." She leaned her head against his chest, reassured by the warmth and the constant, steady beat of his heart.

* * *

"So, what do we know about the final test?" 

Relena looked over at her teammate. Clarice Seabrook was one of the three trainees who Wu Fei had put under her command. The fourth, Alley Brogan, had quit after getting into a shouting match with the Chinese pilot. She took a second to make a mental appraisal of Clarice. The young American girl's freckled face was framed by short, curly brown hair, and her brown eyes revealed that she was the playful, mischievous type like Duo. Although she was comparatively inexperienced, she had done quite well in the City test because she was more than willing to get a bit dirty. Relena smiled inwardly; something told her that they would get along just fine.

"Nothing really, Masters's team failed...I heard him bitching about how it was impossible, but he said that he wasn't allowed to reveal any particulars."

"Oh, forget Draco. He's a former Alliance soldier who thinks he knows better than us 'dumb kids'." This came from Mya Luciano, the Italian woman who reminded Relena very much on Noin. She brushed her black bangs out of her dark purple eyes and continued. "I'm glad the windbag got taken down a couple of notches."

The last member of their team, Kyp Heinz, spoke up. "I heard from some of the Preventers that this test isn't supposed to be solvable. It's just meant to be a field test to see how we function as a team."

"Well," said Relena as she stood from the break room chair, "I guess we'll find out just as soon as Zhang throws us into the fire."

"...Which is right now."

The four trainees turned to see their supervisor standing in the doorway with a set of manila folders in hand. He passed one to each of them, then lead them down the hallway that lead to the City. Once they entered the artificial city, the five of them jumped into a mobile command center and started off. All eyes turned to Wu Fei, and he began speaking. "Your briefing is in those folders. You have two hours to complete the mission within these parameters. Oh, by the way..." Here a sarcastic smirk crossed his lips. "I'm sure you've heard from the others that this mission is impossible. Well, since this is more a test of your ability to perform in the field than anything else, you shouldn't get all broken up if you fail. Good luck."

Zhang parked the command vehicle some distance from their objective, then climbed out and walked towards the large building. Relena fought back the urge to swear when she saw it; tall white walls, baroque styling, a distinctly royal flavor...it was the Peacecraft mansion.

Clarice was the first to open her file. "Damn...terrorists are holding Relena Darlain's birthday party hostage...with a nuclear device!"

"...I think there scenario needs to be updated," Kyp mused dryly.

Relena shook her head and sat back down. "No, she gave permission. Besides, it wouldn't seem as real if it was a fake person, would it?"

"I suppose not."

Mya grimly leafed through the document. "So there are about twenty of them to the four of us. Odds are the bomb is somewhere far away from the shelter so they can hide out without being affected by their own weapon. They took over the security cameras and the guards change out every hour. On top of that, we have no idea where they're keeping Miss Darlain and the other hostages. And of course, we're not allowed to let anyone die, especially Miss Relena."

Clarice smirked. "So...can we switch sides?"

Relena ignored the joke. She wondered whose smart idea it was to make this final test. Whoever it was, she would bitch them out later. Right now, there were more important things to do. She pulled the floor plans of the mansion out of her dossier. "Alright, let's get our priorities straight here. We need to neutralize the security system or we've lost before we leave the gate. I'd bet anything that they're keeping the hostages somewhere near the bomb..." Here, she pointed at the servants' rooms. "...Probably here, since it's a fair distance from the bomb shelter. They might even have Darlain in another room because they don't want her doing anything like getting the others to try and fight back. Besides, if the plan sours, they might try to grab her and run off so they can try again.

"Here's the plan so far: number one, neutralize the security system; number two, take out as many guards as possible; number three, get the hostages to safety; number four, deal with the bomb. Any volunteers?"

* * *

The guard in the monitor room was bored. These things were the same every time. To be honest, it was pretty amusing the few times that the trainees made kick-in-the-door entrances, only to be gunned down quickly. He especially enjoyed watching them try to sneak through the halls, like they were playing some kind of video game. It brought a dark grin to his face when he recalled all the times he had ratted out the would-be ninjas and seen the looks on their faces when their vests gave off the "death buzzer". Not to mention... 

His thoughts got no further. Mya pinched the nerves at the base of his neck, sending him into unconsciousness. She dusted herself off, then set to work on the computers. A faint smile lit up her face; although she wanted to be an archeologist, she had always enjoyed the computer programming classes at college. After a couple of minutes of hacking, she had picked out a five-minute section of footage that featured only mundane action: nothing but empty hallways, with a terrorist coming by occasionally. She set the monitors to loop that footage continuously, then deactivated the perimeter security and pulled out her communicator.

"It's done. Now it's your turn. Me, I'm getting out of here.

With that, she stood on the chair and climbed out through the removed ceiling tile she had come in through.

* * *

Kyp was not happy. Since they didn't receive any scuba equipment with their mission gear, he, Clarice and Reiko had had to swim through the gap in the rock that held the mansion above the grotto. Normally, he would have been more than happy to hang around a pair of wet-clothed girls, but Reiko had shooed him away so that they could change, reminding him that they were on a time limit. He waited for Mya's signal, then darted through the corridors of the mock-up mansion. 

Currently, he was in a guest room in the mansion, dressing in the uniform of the terrorist he had knocked out. Unfortunately, this guy had a few extra pounds on him, so Kyp had to belt the multi-pocketed pants rather tightly. He hoped that he wouldn't be obvious...the last thing he needed was to be the reason they failed. After making sure the guard was securely bound and gagged, he peeked into the hall to make sure nobody was nearby. He took a few circuits of the halls, making sure to peek into every room he passed by. Ten minutes of searching finally turned up their location: they were in the grand ballroom, crowded around and looking nervous. When he looked in, the "hostages" pretended to be angry with him. They weren't going to win any awards, but what the heck, it added to the realism.

Immediately, he noticed that Relena Darlain was nowhere to be seen. He had seen TV images of her from before the party had been captured and had memorized her appearance. But nowhere among the huddled massed could he see the subdued white dress she had been wearing. He continued searching, and was rewarded some time later when he saw her in one of the servant's rooms. She was tied to a chair and there was a bag over her head, but the dress - and the figure - made it unmistakably clear who she was. Remembering the plan, Kyp wandered over by one of the other guards.

"Could you cover for me? I have to find a bathroom."

The terrorist nodded. "Sure." He began his own patrol as Kyp headed for the largish restroom he had seen during his search. Locking the door securely, he pulled out his headset communicator.

"I found them," he whispered into the mouthpiece. "Everyone except Miss Relena is in the ballroom. They're keeping her in one of the servant's rooms and under heavier guard. Should I go retrieve her?"

Reiko's voice was the one that came through the almost muted earpiece. "No, I'll take care of her. Keep us posted, okay?"

"Roger that. I'm out." Stuffing the communicator back into his pocket, Kyp reached over and flushed the toilet before walking out of the room. If you're going to fake it, you may as well go all the way, he justified to himself.

* * *

Relena crept through one of the castle's side hallways. Every once in a while, she darted into one of the rooms she came across to avoid detection. After receiving Kyp's message, she and Clarice had snuck into the study through the tunnel that connected it to the grotto. From there, they had split up: Clarice was going to find the bomb and diffuse it, robbing the terrorists of their main weapon. In the meantime, while Mya and Kyp took out more guards, she would try and secure the hostages. Easier said than done, but that's what she was there for. 

She found the main ballroom and all the hostages quickly; after all, only her brother knew the mansion as well as she did. However, there was a guard in the room. He started to cry out, but she swept his feet out from under him and he hit his head on the ground, knocking him out. She motioned the frightened people to be silent. "Don't worry, I'm with Preventer. I'm here to get you out."

The people breathed a collective sigh of relief upon hearing that. Relena went over to the wide windows and opened them up, then helped the people climb out one by one. Once they were all safe, she headed for the servant's quarters. She had a princess to visit...

* * *

The terrorist leader remained cool. He had of course noticed that some of his men were missing, and that the cameras had been dismantled. That didn't worry him. He was used to this; he had seen it a thousand times before, with more and more trainees. He waited for their big move with the patience of a tiger stalking its prey. 

He was rewarded five minutes later when the metallic clicks and buzzes of a laser-firefight began echoing down the hallways. He took up a defensive position and saw his men getting mowed down rapidly. These kids were good. They knew how to find cover and keep the enemy pinned down. They began rapidly progressing down the hallway despite the fact that there were only four of...

With a start, he realized that there were only two trainees coming down the hallway. Thinking quickly, he pulled out the detonator switch for the nuclear bomb and pressed the bright red button. Instead of the warbling sound that was supposed to signal the bomb going off, he heard a faint beep that indicated the weapon had been deactivated. Quickly, he turned back to his remaining men.

"Hold them as long as you can! I'll handle the hostages!"

Without waiting for a reply, he made a mad dash for the ballroom. Kicking the doors open, he was shocked to see that everyone was long gone. For the first time, he became frustrated. They weren't supposed to be doing this well. He ran for the room where they had locked Darlain up in. As he kicked the door open, he saw one of the trainees bent over the back of the chair, untying the Vice-Foreign Minister. With a malicious smile, he fired his laser pistol, setting off Clarice's jacket and "killing" her. He strode over to the captive princess and leveled the gun at her.

"Not a bad effort, but it's still game..."

BZZZZZZZZZ!

He froze in shock. Darlain's hand was held out, a pistol shoved right into his gut. He stumbled backwards as she stood from the chair and removed the bag from her head, revealing flame-red hair.

"...You?"

Relena - the real Relena - smiled at the defeated commander. "If the leader goes down, we win. Nothing personal, Zhang, but I play to win. Are you alright, Clarice?"

"Ow...I bumped my nose on the ground when I fell."

The young woman giggled and helped her friend to her feet. "You'll be fine."

Mya and Kyp came into the room a second later, grins on their faces. Relena looked over at Wu Fei, who had removed the mottled bandana from his face. "Well?"

Letting out a frustrated sigh, the Chinese Preventer threw the bandana to the ground. "You passed the last test."

The four trainees cheered.

* * *

"Well, you've done it." 

Relena couldn't keep herself from beaming with pride when she heard Lady Une say that. It was a week after the final test, and all the paperwork had finally gotten through. Now, she stood in the Preventer leader's office, wearing her new uniform: a green, short-sleeved button-up shirt with a black tie and a navy skirt that hit an inch above her knee. Also gathered were the five Gundam pilots (Quatre had actually managed to get the time to come by), her brother (who looked pleased in spite of his earlier protests), Noin and, of course, Lady Une. The older woman picked up a navy jacket from the desk and walked over to the former politician.

"Miss Reiko Nakajima..." Here she allowed herself a small grin. "...Rather, Miss Relena Darlain, you have completed the training regimen with some of the highest marks for a trainee ever. In addition, your quick and original thinking in the field test have shown that you have the keen mind of a commander and the heart of a true warrior."

She handed the jacket over, and Relena immediately put it on. Simply wearing it made her feel more powerful than she ever had in her pantsuits and royal gowns. As she adjusted it slightly, Lady Une went back to her desk and retrieved a photo ID, which she clipped over her left breast pocket. She stepped back to let everyone get a look at their newest ally.

"Welcome to the team, Lightning."

Ignoring the applause, Relena threw herself into Heero's waiting arms and kissed him passionately. She knew deep down inside that today was the happiest day of her life.


	3. Buried Secrets

Codename: Lightning  
A Shin Kidou Senshi Gundam W fanfic by Preventer Void  
Chapter 3: Buried Secrets

* * *

"Slow day." 

Relena looked up as she stirred the sugar in her coffee cup. She was in the Preventers' break room along with Trowa and Wu Fei, who were also getting coffee.

Trowa nodded before taking a sip from his mug. "Yeah, things have been pretty quiet lately. I mean, it's been almost six months since anything big has happened."

The former politician smiled into her mug. "Honestly, I don't mind the lack of activity. Compared to the ESUN senate, this is a vacation."

"I'm sure you can't wait to go out there and kick some ass, right?" asked Wu Fei.

"Well, yeah, but ours is one of the few jobs where slow days are a good thing for the general populace."

The two Gundam pilots nodded in agreement. Just then, Duo strode into the room, carrying his mug and whistling an upbeat tune. He filled up, and then started out the door again.

"Oh, Duo..."

The braided pilot stopped and turned around. Trowa was holding up the empty carafe. "You know the rule; if you take the last drop, you make the next pot."

"Aww, c'mon guys! I gotta get back to work! Can't you make an exception?"

Relena shook her head. "Duo, I've only been here for two months and even I have that rule down. No exceptions."

"Pleeeeeeease?"

"NO!" they all shouted in unison. Whimpering like a wounded animal, Duo took the carafe and started making more coffee as the three left the room.

"Do you think we were too hard on him?" asked Trowa.

Wu Fei shook his head. "The rules are the same for everyone. Even Lady Une refills the pot if she finishes the last one off."

"Sometimes I wonder if it would be more efficient to replace him with a golden retriever," Relena mused.

The Chinese pilot laughed. "I like the way you think, but his fiancée would dump him if she had to spend any longer around him than normal. If you'll excuse me..."

The two pilots went off to their respective offices as Relena went to hers. A gilded sign on the door read "Reiko Nakajima - Preventer Lightning". Seeing the sign filled her with more pride than anything she ever did as Vice Foreign Minister did. Now that she was a Preventer, she felt more like her job had a tangible impact on the world...or she would, if anything would happen. Opening the door, she saw someone sitting at the black leather chair in front of her desk.

"What may I help you with today, Void?"

Heero turned at the sound of her voice, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "I was wondering where you were."

"Coffee, friendly conversation and tormenting Braid-Boy."

He went over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, leaning in for a deep kiss. Caught off-guard, she fell backwards against the door, pushing it shut. After a minute, she broke the kiss.

"Next time, at least let me put the coffee down first."

He smiled more fully now. "Well, I officially have another reason to be proud of you."

She blinked in surprise. "What?"

"I heard through the grapevine that Lady Une is going to give you a command position as soon as she can."

Relena pulled away from him and set her mug on the desk, and then turned around and pulled him into an even more passionate kiss. They stayed that way for some time, and then finally broke it and looked into each other's eyes.

"Why did she decide to do that?" she inquired.

"Because of your performance in the final test and your past experience in what she calls a position of command."

She went around her desk and sat down in the swivel chair. "I wonder if I'll ever escape the reputation I earned in that job."

"They're not expecting you to go back to your old job or anything, but you still command the same respect and attention even when people don't know who you really are."

"Well, since you seem to be psychic, maybe you can tell me when we'll finally have a real mission."

Heero smirked as he headed for the door. "I never claimed to be some kind of mystic. I just have my sources."

She watched his retreating form, paying extra attention to his rear. "Oh Lord...what's wrong with me?" Trying to push the inappropriate fantasies out of her head, she turned on her PC and waited for it to finish booting up before opening up her database. Ever since she had joined, she had been making a sweep of former Alliance and OZ based which might be housing anarchists and other dangerous elements. The problem was, most of them had already been cleaned out long before she had joined. Moving the mouse over the world map, she double-clicked on some of the locations, which brought up the information on the base's purpose and current status. She browsed over a few of the more familiar locations: New Edwards, Lake Victoria, Antarctica...

Something caught Relena's attention as she looked over northern Asia. Right in the middle of Ukraine, which was of extremely little strategic value, there was one large base within flight range of multiple supply stations and manufacturing plants. She pulled up the base's information and discovered that it was a spent mining facility and had seen very little activity other than being the design site of several early OZ transports and Mobile Suits. Something just clicked in her mind...why would OZ make a base that was so vital to the creation of the modern military so far out? As she dug deeper, things began looking more and more out of place. This was definitely something she had to tell the others about.

* * *

"So...it's a base." 

Relena shook her head. "It's more than just a base, Maxwell. Something is up there, and I know it."

Wu Fei glanced over the information she had printed out before looking back up at her. "Oddessa used to be a mining facility back before the colonies were built. Its resources have been long gone, and it's too far away from any major fronts to actually have any importance. Why do you think it's worth looking into?"

She pulled out several more sheets of paper from her folder and placed them on the table. "For no apparent reason, several early OZ designs were created at Oddessa before they moved operations to places like Lake Victoria and the Lunar Base. These designs include the OZ-01, -02, -03, -04, and -05MS and this interesting little ship." She produced another piece of paper and laid it on the table. Almost instantly, Trowa picked it up and examined it.

"The Gaw attack carrier...I encountered a couple of these when I was still a mercenary. Apparently, OZ only produced a limited number before producing more space-based units like the Leo Mothership."

Zechs chose that moment to interrupt. "That and a majority of the rebel forces came from the colonies, so terrestrial attack carriers were of little use."

"But you don't see it," Relena interjected. "Look at these Mobile Suits. Do you notice something odd about them?"

The gathered Preventers took another good look at the blueprints before them. Heero picked one of them, labeled the OZ-01MS, and examined it at arm's length. "This looks nothing like any of OZ's later designs. The head design, the chest...if anything, it looks more like an early Gundam."

Relena nodded definitively. "Exactly. And look at the others - visors, goggles, even cat's eyes for sensors, and a number of weapons we've never heard of before, like this shotlancer and this beam shield. These MS do not make tactical sense when compared with their siblings. And there are more."

They picked through several more papers she had printed out, examining incomplete prototypes for various kinds of Mobile Suits and even some Mobile Armor. Duo burst out laughing at the sight of one amphibious model. "Jeez, it looks like a mechanical teddy bear or something..."

"Not to mention this," Wu Fei added as he examined the OZ-02MS. "It looks like an early transforming model, but they couldn't work out the transformation mechanism. Just as well...what was the point of making a Mobile Suit that transforms into a velociraptor? The drill is a nice touch, though."

"And it only gets more interesting when you see the staff of Oddessa circa AC 170, when the Tallgeese was built." She handed Trowa the next paper, and he read for the benefit of the others.

"Doctor J...Professor G...Doktor S...Instructor H...Master O...Howard...it's the original creators of the Tallgeese."

Lady Une looked over at Relena. "Did you talk to Dr. Howard about this?"

The young woman nodded. "Yes, and he told me that back then, they were handed a bunch of incomplete MS schematics and told to use them for inspiration. The Tallgeese apparently went through several different incarnations, all of them having something in common with these designs here...and at least a couple were Gundams."

There was a long pause as everyone absorbed these thoughts. Finally, Heero spoke up. "So, you think it's worth investigating this place?"

"So if OZ had all this powerful technology," asked Duo as he leafed through the designs on the table, "why didn't they use them to make their MS? God knows the Leo could have stood some improvement."

"My best guess is that they didn't have complete information," Relena replied. "They knew what these things were, but they didn't know how to make them. Apparently, they tried to mimic it as well as they could - the AS planet defensors used by the Scorpio and Mercurius Shuivan are OZ's approximation of beam shields."

"Yes, and I'm absolutely sure I'll find something as interesting as all this, if not more so."

Lady Une nodded. "I agree. Heero, you go with her in case you encounter hostile forces. Report back to me the second you find anything."

The pair nodded, and then took their leave of their allies. As they walked down the hallways of Preventers HQ, Heero looked over at his partner. "Don't you think you're taking women's intuition a step too far here?"

Relena smacked him softly upside the head, a smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth. "That's what you get for being a smartass. You'll get more if you don't shut up."

"I dare you."

She shook her head in mock disgust. "Heero, please. Not in the middle of a mission."

A faint leer appeared on his face. "Afterwards, then?"

Relena made a big show of licking her lips and smacking him on the butt. "You're reading my mind again..."

* * *

The full moon rose over what remained of Oddessa Mining Base as their plane approached from the mountains. Heero made sure to set it down a good distance away so as not to attract any attention, despite the fact that the facility looked like a ghost town. Relena pulled her heavy coat tighter around her light form as they trudged over the frigid dirt and gravel. They walked by a pit with the circular terraces that were telltale signs of strip mining and a pair of small buildings at the lowest terrace. Heero made a move to head down, but Relena held him back, shaking her head and indicating the main building about two miles away. He muttered something under his breath and started for the building. 

"This place seems pretty well-maintained for an abandoned base," she mused.

"Yeah, it's definitely suspicious."

Ten minutes of walking brought them to the base. Relena indicated a camera mounted a little ways away, a red light blinking below the lens. Heero lead her around to the camera's blind spot and pulled a set of climbing gear out of his backpack. She followed suit, and soon they were climbing the wall with the aid of spiked gloves and boots. Once they were on the ceiling, he pulled the grate away from an air duct and allowed her to crawl in first, and then followed and pulled it shut behind him. He drew out a PDA into which he had loaded floor plans for the base and began looking them over. When he found something, he whispered into the tiny microphone on his jacket collar.

"There are two rooms that look like they could be used for data storage. One of them is straight ahead and the other is a little ways off. You check the first one."

"Right." She looked over her shoulder as he crawled through a side duct, and then went on once he was out of sight. She found the room with no problem and waited for a couple of minutes before removing the grate and dropping down to the floor. The room was made up mostly of banks of computer terminals and chairs with a large monitor in the front. She made sure to activate the electronic lock and add a pass code to ensure her some privacy. With that out of the way, she activated one of the computers and began digging.

The operating system was relatively simple; unfortunately, there was no connection to the Net. She pulled her laptop out of her backpack and plugged it into the computer through an access port and turned on her wireless connection. Then, she set to work hacking. Right off the bat, the most recently accessed files were a number of unfamiliar MS and MA designs, most with the label "Zeon" somewhere on them. Almost all of those again had design aspects in common with the OZ-01MS she had shown the other Preventers. Among the designs were lots of space battleships and even some ground transports and submarines.

Then she saw something that really caught her interest: a video file that had seen a lot of recent access. She plugged her headphones into her laptop and opened the file. The media player opened up with the image of a bold-looking man with close-cropped purple hair and what was unmistakably a military uniform. Behind him was a large bed of flowers, positioned in front of a giant portrait of a handsome youth who, by his features and hair, was related to the man in front. Holding her breath, she hit the play button.

"We have lost a hero to our glorious and noble cause! But does this foreshadow our defeat! No! It is a new beginning! Compared to the Earth Federation, the national resources of Zeon are less than one-thirtieth! Despite this major difference, how is it that we've been able to fight for so long! My people! It is because our goal in this war is a righteous one! You of all understand this the best. We were driven from Earth and forced to become colonists in space. For fifty years, a handful of elites on Earth have extended control of the Earth Federation into space! How many times has the Federation quashed our demands for freedom? As long as we, the Principality of Zeon, fight for this sacred cause, God will not abandon us! My beloved brother, Garma Zabi, was sacrificed! Why!

History demands that we, the chosen nation, must dominate this new age! We must not become complacent and we must bring an end to this stalemate! Together we have struggled in the harsh life of space and built this new culture upon which we stand. Zeon Daikun said that the rebirth of man would begin with us, those who live in space! However, the arrogant worms of the Earth Federation claim that they are the ones to control mankind and resist this renaissance. Many of you have lost fathers and sons to the Federation's senseless resistance! You must keep this sadness and hatred alive within you! My brother Garma Zabi has shown us these virtues through his own valiant sacrifice! We must gather this hatred and crush the Federation, for true victory is within our grasp. Victory is the ultimate vindication for all of those who have sacrificed their lives in this conflict! My people! My people, rise and transform your sorrow into anger! Never forget that we, the citizens of Zeon, are the chosen! We, the superior race, shall save mankind! Seig Zeon!"

As the media player closed, Relena felt a chill run down her spine. Even without her having been versed in speech writing, she could definitely tell the speaker's intent. He was whipping those people into a fanatical frenzy. Even though he had used words like "beloved" and "valiant" to refer to his brother, it seemed like he saw Garma's death as nothing more than a source of political power. She shook her head; this man was not one to cut corners or mince words. What he said, he meant. His use of loaded words and emotional appeals made her sure that this Earth Federation wasn't the satanic entity he had made it out to be. She wondered just how effective his speech had been, then thought to herself that further research would provide the answer.

"Interesting little video you have there." She jerked her head up automatically, and then realized that the voice was Lady Une's, coming from her earpiece.

"Yeah...absolutely perfect for stirring those people up, but I can't help but wonder what happened to those people."

"According to what Heero found, nothing good. The records he sent me date Garma Zabi's death at October 5, Universal Century 0079. On January 1st the following year, the Principality of Zeon surrendered to the Earth Federation. And the speaker, Giren Zabi, was shot in the head by his own sister for killing their father."

Relena winced. "Ouch...wait, did you say 'Universal Century'!"

"Apparently, people have been in space for a lot longer than two hundred years. The figure is actually closer to five or six hundred. The Earth Federation mentioned in that speech was formed shortly before the first colonies were completed and lasted for almost three hundred years before collapsing shortly after what they call the Seventh Space War, in which all the original colonies were dropped on the planet."

"...That would explain why the environment is so unstable now, and why it would have only taken Libra hitting the Earth to cause a nuclear winter."

"Exactly. It's a wonder that we didn't know about these events before, but right now, it seems like that base is the missing link to the past."

Before she could reply, there came the faint beeping sound of someone trying to open the door using the security keypad. After several beeps, she heard the two angry buzzes that indicated a failed pass code.

"Shit, my code isn't working," came a man's voice from the other side of the door.

A second man's voice followed another attempt at opening the door. "Are you sure you have the right code?"

"Of course! Here, let me see your keyfob. Maybe mine's broken."

After another couple of seconds of unsuccessful button pressing, the first soldier spoke up again. "Damn thing must be broken. Use the emergency opening handle."

Instantly, Relena shut down her computer and began stuffing it back into her backpack. "Sorry, but someone's coming and I need to hide," she whispered into the microphone.

"Understood, I'll shut down my connection so they can't track it." A split second later, there was a faint beep that signaled the link closing. She scooped up her backpack and ducked under the console behind her as the two men walked in. The door closed before she could get out...that meant there was no way to leave without attracting their attention.

"Hey, someone left a computer on," observed one of the soldiers.

"Forget it; probably some newbie listening to the speech who forgot to turn it off when he was...hey, what's that?"

From under the farthest console, Relena saw one of the men crouch down and pick up a cable...her link cable. She cursed herself for leaving it behind. Getting a warning sensation, she drew her pistol from her shoulder holster. Just as she was about to move, the man's head turned and he saw her, only to have a bullet punch through his face, spattering bright crimson blood all over the console behind him. Her cover effectively blown, she opened the door and ran like a woman possessed. She heard the alarm as soon as she was a fair distance away; the man's friend had probably triggered it as soon as he had recovered from the shock of his partner's death. She reached up to her lapel and pressed the button to turn the headset on.

"Sorry Heero, but they caught me off-guard. Get out of there now."

"Right, they'll probably have things locked down now. Get out any way you can, and be careful."

"Of course."

As she heard the echo of heavy boots coming down the hall towards her, Relena decided to take a chance and jump into the next room she came across. She pressed herself against the door and took the time to program a new pass code before turning around and seeing where she was - the Mobile Suit dock. In each of the repair docks was a different Mobile Suit, none of them were OZ-made; all these she had seen on the database. Hearing the soldiers work the emergency handle, she made a beeline for the nearest MS, a slender white machine with enormous shoulder binders and a long head. She jumped onto the elevator platform in front of the MS and pressed the up button. The metal platform shuddered, and then began rising with a mechanical hum as it carried Relena up to the cockpit of the white MS. She felt the galvanic sensation of her warning sense running through her body and began to turn, only to get caught in the side by a bullet. Luckily, she was wearing her bulletproof vest; unfortunately, the shock of the impact threw her off, and a second bullet whizzed by her head, leaving a hot sensation just above her ear. She fell to the ground and put a hand to her temple, pulled it away and saw the bright red stain on her fingers. This wasn't a simulation; that much was certain now.

When the platform ground to a halt, she dove into the cockpit, narrowly avoiding several more bullets. She quickly sealed the hatch and began starting up the OS. The main screen lit up, displaying the MS's name and number: AMX-004 Quebely. When the startup was complete, the monitors showed the dock around her, the soldiers scrambling towards the other MS. Relena started for the exit, but a bulky green MS with large spikes on its shoulders tackled her from behind. A massive hand grabbed the wide pink cockpit hatch and began trying to tear it off; obviously, they didn't want to destroy a perfectly good Mobile Suit. Pushing the right joystick forward and pressing one of the buttons with her thumb, a beam saber slid out of the Quebely's forearm and ignited, spearing the green MS through the cockpit before she pulled it out and slashed the hangar doors open. Before she had gone a hundred yards, her warning sense went off and she dodged to the right, only to have her left shoulder armor shredded by a stream of rapid-fire beam shots. Without her thrusters, the Quebely crashed into the ground, leaving a trail of torn-up earth in her wake.

Relena pulled herself off of the front monitor, trying to ignore the stabbing pain that ran through her forehead now. Her vision blurred; abstractly, she wondered if it was because of the blood loss or a possible concussion. She tried to make the Quebely stand, or at least flip itself onto its back so it could fight back. The screen flashed a bright red warning: BALANCERS DAMAGED. She worked the joysticks, but all she got in response was the sound of motors whirring to no effect. As the green MS approached, she closed her eyes.

So, this is how it all ends? God, I don't want to die here. I barely even put up a fight. If only I could only fight back...but I can't. Heero, I'm sorry. I let you down. I wasn't much of a Preventer, was I? I'm sorry...

That was her last thought before the pressure behind her eyes overwhelmed her and she blacked out.

* * *

A faint light pierced Relena's closed eyelids and brought her back to consciousness. Very slowly, she sat up, ignoring the dull throbbing in her ribs. Taking a second to discern her surroundings, she found herself in the medical wing of Preventers HQ. Judging by the lack of light coming from the blind-covered windows, it was well into night. She looked for the source of the light that had woken her up, and found a small reading lamp clipped to the headboard, shining down on the sleeping form of Heero, who had dozed off in the middle of his book. Smiling at how cute he looked, Relena brushed a few loose strands of hair out of his eyes before kissing him on the cheek. 

He woke with a start, but almost instantly was coherent. "You should still be lying down. You're not fully recovered."

With an exaggerated sigh, she heaved herself back down on the pillows, arms crossed in front of her chest. "You never let me have any fun."

"You should consider yourself lucky. Some of our agents in Saint Petersburg got the distress call I sent out and brought a couple of teams of Serpents to back us up."

Finally recalling what happened, she put a hand to her forehead. "Some agent I turned out to be...can't even handle some pathetic rebels."

Heero set one of his hands on top of hers. "You were fighting enemies nobody's fought before in an MS you've never touched before. You did as well as I could have expected...hell, you even surprised me by finishing them off when you were down. How'd you do that, anyway?"

Cautiously, she sat up again and looked at him. "Do what?"

"After you were shot down, they started approaching and I thought you were done for. But then these little pink objects came out of your MS's tail binder and started buzzing around like hornets, blasting them from all sides. The ones you didn't shoot down surrendered immediately."

Relena looked into Heero's eyes again. For a second, she thought he was teasing her. But the look on his face showed that he was dead serious. "I didn't do anything...I blacked out a couple of seconds after crash-landing...which reminds me, I don't have a concussion, do I?"

He shook his head. "Other than the wound to the head and a couple of bruises from the landing, you're fine. You were completely exhausted when we brought you in here, but otherwise everything's fine."

She lay back down, and then remembered the reason they had gone to the base in the first place. "What about those databanks?"

"When we went back in, there was someone trying to purge them to keep us from getting any information. Thankfully, Maxwell was able to restore whatever that guy had tried to destroy. We've been decoding them ever since...which reminds me, you've been out for the better part of a day."

"I feel like it...what did you discover, anyway?"

Heero picked up a large manila folder and began looking through the printouts. We've managed to decode the historical records they had hidden away. It turns out that these guys were actually sitting on a massive portion of the world's history, including everything from before the colonies were built. Oddly enough, I may have discovered the reason Treize requested to be buried where he did."

Relena paused as she tried to recall the name of the military cemetery where the late leader was interred. "Wasn't it Arlington National Cemetery?"

Heero nodded. "Right, apparently the land once belonged to a famous general from several hundred years ago. Clever, fiercely loyal to his country, trusted very much in his soldiers, and honorable to a fault...he and Treize may as well have been cut from the same cloth."

A smile spread across her face. "I hope he's happy now. But what else did you discover?"

"Let's see, records of post-colony activity...the first big event in what they call the Universal Century was a massive war between the Earth Federation and the colonies at the L2 point - then called Side 3, or Zeon - which was the first military deployment of Mobile Suits. They called it the One-Year War."

"Clever title," she said with a sarcastic smirk.

He shrugged and continued. "The Federation won, but three years later, a group of Zeon holdovers launched a successful colony drop on a major granary in North America, giving a group of extremist anti-colonists the opening they needed to seize power. A faction of rebels formed to fight them off, resulting in a series of minor conflicts that came to a head when the son of Zeon's original leader tried to force all people off the planet. Things were relatively quiet for some time, and then a private organization funded a group of space pirates to take over colonies so they could create their 'perfect society'. After another thirty years, there was another major war, but by then the Federation had slipped into stagnation and another group of civilians took up the fight. And just so you know, this all happens within the span of about 80 years."

Relena rolled these thoughts around in her head for a while before speaking. "So what happened that made the environment so fragile? Lady Une and I were talking about that earlier."

"Things remained relatively calm for another hundred or so years, until another colonial faction formed to win its independence from the Earth. In the face of the newly revived Federation's super-powerful Gundams, they resorted to dropping every last colony on the planet, causing a fifteen-year nuclear winter."

She shuddered at that. "I can't believe someone would go that far."

Heero looked up at her seriously. "Dekim."

"Oh, him." She spat the name out as if the taste of it displeased her.

"Anyway, after the environment settled down, there was another series of battles as the Federation made one last attempt to come back, but they were finally defeated once and for all. MS technology was apparently lost in the peaceful times, and after the environment completely stabilized, they began construction on new colonies."

"Bringing us to the After Colony era."

He shook his head. "Not quite. After that, there was a period where people began experimenting with genetic manipulation. The results were were essentially custom-made babies. People could finally have the tall, blonde football star son they always wanted."

"So what happened?"

"A series of conflicts started between those with modified genes and those without, which also involved the construction of some pretty serious machinery. In the end, it was decided that that sort of thing was too much power for man to handle, so the information was destroyed and everyone began settling back into a more ordinary lifestyle. And THAT is about where we get to the After Colony period."

She nodded. "What about the MS?"

He closed the first folder and brought out a second, laying it on her lap. She began leafing through it, picking out some of the ones she had seen at Oddessa. "Zaku III...Jenice...Geara Doga...man, they really liked the basic shape of this one, didn't they?"

Heero reached over and turned to a diagram of a smaller MS that looked similar to all three of the ones she had named. "Probably because their ancestor, the Zaku II, was practically the symbol of the Zeon military. To some extent, you could say the Leo looks like it, too."

"I guess so, but..." She trailed off as she found the blueprints of the MS she has used, the Quebely. Scanning the weapons list, she saw several objects labeled "funnels" embedded in the tail binder. Before she could say anything, Heero stood and handed her the folder with the historical records.

"I'll let you rest. You can read up on this stuff if you want."

Relena pulled him down and kissed him. "Thanks, I appreciate it."

Heero started for the door, but turned to say goodbye and saw that she was already absorbed in the information before her. Saying nothing, he turned and left.


	4. A New Threat

Codename: Lightning  
A Shin Kidou Senshi Gundam W fanfic by Preventer Void  
Chapter 4: A New Threat

* * *

"Take her down nice and slow." 

"Right."

Relena tapped at the keyboard of the Preventer shuttle, adjusting the angle of descent. The laser sensors mounted on the craft's underside measured the distance to the Moon's surface, giving her an idea of how to change the verniers' output. With a soft thud, the ship settled on the pale, dusty planetoid. She turned to Heero. "So, shall we suit up?"

He nodded. "Let's."

The two of them went into the back of the shuttle and put on their astrosuits. They were basically the same standard-issue Preventers suit, but each was specifically personalized. Relena's was dark gray and had dirty green shoulders, each lined with dull gold and bearing Preventer's logo, along with silver pads on the elbows and knees. What made hers distinctive was that its center was colored dull gold and featured a stylized bolt of lightning on its left breast. She pulled a cap over her head to keep her long hair out of the way, then secured her helmet on tightly and turned on her oxygen supply. She turned to Heero, who was in an identical suit, save the fact that his was black and had a silver-edged nebula as its insignia. "I'm all ready. Let's go."

He pulled the handle on the door, the sound of it opening already being lost in the airless void of space. He held the door open and made a gesture to her, as if to say "ladies first". With an ironic grin and a curtsey, Relena hopped out of the shuttle and landed feet-first in the thick moondust. Heero closed the shuttle door behind him and kicked off the hull, coming down next to her. They began trotting towards the large crater in front of them. According to the information they had uncovered, there used to be a big MS manufacturer here.

Relena looked up at the sky and saw Earth, partially obscured by shadow. She had been in space before, but this time it felt colder. She reached out and took his hand; even through the heavy material of the astrosuit, it reassured her to know that he was there. He looked over at her.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, slight confusion tingeing his voice.

She shook her head. "I just feel like holding your hand."

He smirked. "Hardly a date."

"Well, I like it all the same."

They continued on for some time, not saying anything. When they finally reached the crater that had once housed Anaheim Electronics' research and development facility, they saw the shattered remnants of the building, perfectly preserved in the Moon's airless atmosphere. As they slid down towards the wreckage, Relena inwardly wondered who - or what - caused all the destruction and decided that she would rather not know. They dug around the broken fragments for several minutes until she heard Heero make a startled noise. She ran over to him and saw a metal door built into the ground.

"Must have been where they did all the hard work," he said as he swept the dirt away with his hand.

She nodded in reply. "The question is, how do we get down there?"

The two of them began digging around the surrounding area, searching for an access panel. A couple of minutes' search gave them one, and Heero pulled off a nearby plate to get at to the inner wiring for the door. He tinkered with the wires and circuits for several minutes and was rewarded by the panel lighting up green and the door opening, revealing a set of heavy metal stairs. Rising, he gestured towards the darkness below.

"After you, madam."

A quirky smile on her lips, Relena said a quick "Thank you" before switching her helmet-mounted searchlight and descending into the depths. Immediately, they split up and began looking through the labyrinthine hallways on their own. She came upon a door with a nameplate reading "Thinktank" and, to her amusement, a drawing of a brain with treads and a pair of cannons mounted on it. Cracking the door with the emergency handle, she went in and saw row upon row of cubicles, some still with information and incomplete schematics. One cubicle in particular caught her attention. Stepping inside, she saw two halves of a soccer ball-sized orb, colored pea green and marked with a pair of eyes and circular flaps on its upper half. She picked up a nearby printout - apparently a planned press release about the product - and began reading through it when she got a call.

"I've found the Motherlode. You're going to want to see this."

Grabbing an empty printer paper box, she shoveled the ball and all the nearby circuitry into it, taking care to scoop up anything that seemed like documentation for its assembly and completion. Putting the lid on securely, she left the thinktank and went looking for Heero. Following his directions, she found herself at another metal door, this one open. She walked inside and was immediately stunned by her surroundings.

Inside the enormous hangar - for that was all the room could possibly be - was an incredible collection of Mobile Suits. The majority were unmistakably Gundams, but they were all in pristine order, save a layer of dust. She went over to one Heero was looking at, a rather boxy-looking Gundam, and read aloud from the museum plaque in front of it.

"'RX-78-2 Gundam, the first Mobile Suit to bear the name and the first to use beam weapons. Piloted by the civilian Amuro Ray, the Gundam quickly became the symbol of the Earth Federation and was a constant threat to the Zeon Zaku.' Feels odd, doesn't it?"

He looked down at her; while she was reading, he had jumped up to the open cockpit and was examining the instruments. "What do you mean?"

"Well, in a sense, we're looking at Wing Zero's ancestor. This is the first Gundam, after all."

Heero nodded. "I guess." Without another word, he leapt over to begin investigating the other MS collected nearby. While he went down the row on the left, she checked out the right.

"RMS-108 Marasai...MSN-00100 Hyaku-Shiki (man, that's gaudy)...MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam...MSZ-010 Double Zeta Gundam...This is pretty impressive."

"Nh."

She turned to where Heero was and started over for him. There was an empty space between two Gundams, and the plaque had been removed entirely.

"You think they got rid of one?"

He nodded. "Yeah, but the question is, why?"

She looked over at the Gundam to their immediate left. "RX-78GP01 Gundam, codename Zephyrantes."

"...And the one to the right is the GP03S Gundam Stamen."

She strode back over to the empty platform and examined the plaque again. "So logically, this would be the GP02...whatever that's supposed to be."

He looked at her, finally noticing the box tucked under her arm. "What's that?"

"Hm?" Looking up, she took a second to realize what he was asking about. "Oh, this. I found it in their workspace. Apparently, it was some kind of toy robot they were planning on selling. I was hoping we could talk Duo or someone else who's mechanically astute to complete it."

Shrugging his shoulders, Heero went down the line until he reached the very last Mobile Suit. "'MS-50A Zaku 50. Designed as an anniversary MS, the design bears little in common with its ancestor but was nonetheless intended as a throwback to the Zaku II of the One-Year War."

Relena took a good long look at the room, row upon row of MS standing like so many soldiers, standing at attention, waiting for orders that would never come. The thought that their legendary pilots were long dead - that, in fact, these were mere copies of the originals that were gone for centuries - was sad and humbling all at once. Only because of her hunch and their mission to that base in Oddessa had they learned about these people. Would people remember what Heero, her brother, and the others had been through when the next century rolled around, or would they also be lost to the fickle flow of the river called Time?

She was snapped out of her meditative silence by Heero's hand settling on her shoulder. "I found the doors that lead to the lunar surface. How about we get back to the ship and call in for some transports to load these up, and you can take a nice hot bath when we get home."

Relena forced herself to smile, shaking off the depressing thoughts she had just put herself through. "Sounds like a plan to me."

* * *

Once more, the senior Preventers members (sans Noin, who was still on maternity leave) were gathered around the meeting room. Lady Une looked around at the assembled soldiers with mild annoyance on her face. 

"Would someone be so kind as to tell me where Miss Lightning is? The last time I checked, she was considered a senior member."

As if in reply to her question, the door burst open and in came Relena, toting the cardboard box from the ruined building and sweating profusely. "I'm so sorry I'm late, but I was working on this thing and when I looked up, I was already five minutes late."

With a sigh, Lady Une shook her head. "Forget it; we have some more important matters. With all the new data we've obtained recently, it looks like we could make substantial steps in the field of MS development. Thankfully, the ESUN bigwigs haven't decided to complain about all those inactive MS you all have found since their reactors are long dead. But after serious consideration, they've accepted our proposal. We've been officially licensed to build new Mobile Suits to test this new technology."

There was a stunned silence around the table as the notion sank in. Trowa was the first to speak up. "What about all the historical records we've uncovered? Have they made any move to make the information public?"

Their boss shook her head. "Not yet. It's going to take them a while to compile everything first, and then they'll release it formally."

Wu Fei raised his hand for attention. "What about the new technology we're testing? Can you give us any particulars?"

"We're going to make some testbed units to see if we can make the technology compatible with our current manufacturing processes. If they're successful, we'll see about making new MS."

Zechs nodded. "Sounds good to me. I'd like to imagine MS using this shotlancer weapon in colony defense, so we don't have to risk any hull breaches."

"That would be the last thing we would want to happen." Une glanced around at the other Preventers. "So, are there any other orders of business?"

With that, all eyes turned to Relena. She looked around nervously. "What? You want me to talk about this thing?"

Heero smirked. "Well, to be honest, I don't think I've seen you so into something as you have been with that little robot. Weren't you going to let someone like Maxwell look at it?"

"I was...then I started cracking away at it myself, and I just couldn't put it down." She pulled the lid off the box and lifted out the object in question. Now completely assembled, the robot was 25 centimeters in diameter and marked with a curved line around its middle, four flaps, and a pair of red light-up eyes. Duo reached into the box and pulled out the press release she had grabbed along with the assembly instructions and read from it.

"'Haro Revival Edition. One hundred years ago, the original Haro was constructed by Gundam's pilot Amuro Ray and ended up among the motley crew of White Base. Now we offer you this, the first new Haro model in 20 years. Most versions are scaled down for children, but this model is identical to the original in its outward appearance. New features include advanced artificial intelligence, hologram projection, audio and video recording, data storage and processing and a myriad of other features. It's the perfect combination of pet and PDA, and only a limited number will be made. Get yours today!' Wow, sounds like a regular wunderkind, doesn't it?"

Relena shook her head. "Assuming I got everything installed properly. Here we go..." With that, she flipped the ball over and clicked on the power switch on its underside. All at once, the robot began rocking and beeping violently. Everyone jumped from his or her seats as if the sphere would spontaneously self-destruct then and there. Relena placed it on the table right-side-up and backed off. It spun around, still shaking, until it ended up with its plaintive red eyes staring right at Heero.

"HELLO, AMURO." came the digitized voice from the ball. The flaps on top of its head wagged a couple of times.

"...What did it just call me?"

The eyes flashed as it replied, "AMURO. AMURO. AMURO."

Duo looked back at the paper. "Um...that's the name of the first Gundam pilot and the guy who made it. Maybe it's programmed to call you that the first time it activates, or something."

The perfect soldier shook his head and pointed at himself. "No, Heero."

"AMURO."

"Heero."

"AMURO."

He grunted in frustration. "Advanced AI my ass, I think a couple of circuits must be loose."

Relena giggled and picked it up. "Well, I think it's adorable."

"PRETTY GIRL. PRETTY GIRL."

"Suck-up."

She stuck her tongue out at Heero. "Jealous."

With a dry chuckle, Wu Fei stood and made for the door. "As riveting as this is, I think I'll leave the lot of you to this and get back to work. Have fun with your talking paperweight."

Only after the door had completely closed did Haro turn towards it and chirp out, "JACKASS." Everyone blinked a couple of times before anything happened. Duo was the first to speak. "Guess it's smarter than you gave it credit for, eh Heero?"

* * *

For reasons he hadn't discerned yet, Zechs Marquise preferred working in darkness...literally. As he clicked and clacked away at his PC, the only light in his office came from the underpowered desk lamp. So engrossed was he in his work that he didn't hear the knocking on his open door. His guest went unnoticed until he leaned over the desk and waved his hand in between the monitor and Zechs' face. 

"Well, I've heard a lot of things about the Lightning Count, but his going deaf wasn't among them."

Hearing his old title made Zechs start slightly. He looked up at his guest and received another shock.

"Well well, it's quite an honor to have someone as high up in OZ's ranks come to me for a friendly visit. And what can I do for you today?"

Rosshe Natono put his hands on his hips. "I'm surprised you even acknowledged me, Zechs Marquise. You were certainly busy there."

Zechs looked back at his monitor for a second, and then smirked. "Things have been a little interesting lately. So, what brings you here?"

The former Prize officer leaned on the desk. "You've probably heard that the exploration and resource mining ships heading out from MO-V have been vanishing a few days after launching."

"I have."

"Well, the latest one managed to get back some images from before it was destroyed. I figured you would want to see these in person." He slid a disk across the desk. Zechs put it into the hard drive and loaded up the video. They watched as the shuttle came under attack from a trio of unfamiliar Mobile Suits. After the video stopped, the two men looked back at each other.

"In all the time I was in OZ, I never saw anything that looked like that. I was hoping you Preventer boys could fill in the missing gaps."

Rubbing his chin in thought, Zechs looked at a still of the mysterious MS. It looked vaguely similar to Virgos, but the picture was too blurry to make any definites out, and there seemed to be some unaccounted-for changes. He mused over the image for a few seconds, and then turned back to the former knight. "To be perfectly frank, I can't tell you what it is. It looks a little like something OZ would build, but we checked their records after Barton sprung the Serpent on us. There ARE no more unbuilt OZ Mobile Suits."

"I see." Without another word, Rosshe stood up and started for the door. "Well, I've done what I came here to do. Take care of yourself, and Instructor Noin too."

"Wait a second." Zechs reached out and grabbed the knight's shoulder. "You know, I can understand that feeling of unease you have. I had it too, before I joined."

A wry smile lit upon Rosshe's face. "You're asking me to join your little band of space cops? Doesn't that seem like a step down from Prize?"

"Not if you think of being Dermail's secret police so highly."

The blonde man jerked out of Zechs' grasp, annoyance on his face. "Don't group me in with those ignorant lackeys. I was more than a lapdog to the old man...but apparently he didn't want anything more."

"I heard. Things didn't exactly go smoothly at MO-V, did they?"

Rosshe chuckled dryly. "You didn't hear all about it?" When Zechs shook his head, he grunted. "I suppose you were with those rebels at that point. Anyway, things were going fine until they decided to call in the Dark General. One of my fellow Knights decided to kill me...and he would have succeeded, had that Gundam pilot stood by and done nothing. Even after all I had done to destroy their colony, they were fine with my joining their self-defense forces, where I stayed up through the final battle."

"Sounds like you had about as much fun as I did. So, what's stopping you from joining us now? It's obvious that you knew which was the right side."

The Stardust Knight looked over at the Lightning Count with a speculative eye. "To be honest...I don't know. Give me some time to sleep on it. Maybe I'll come back and join."

Zechs smiled. "And I'll be right here, waiting for you."

* * *

Relena knocked on the door to Lady Une's office and waited. After a momentary pause, she heard the commander's voice saying "Come in" through the heavy oak. Taking a deep breath, she pulled it open and peeked in. 

"You wanted to speak with me?"

Lady Une looked up from a fair-sized pile of paperwork to see who had spoken. "Good, you're here. Take a seat, I have to fill out these forms in quintuplicate or the President will have my butt on a platter."

The young Preventer giggled. "Nothing personal, but I'll never miss those days. I honestly think being shot at and getting into MS battles is preferable to all the red tape." She walked into the room and sat down in one of the leather-upholstered chairs in front of the desk.

"Well, it's more straight-forward, I'll give you that."

The two women shared a laugh, then Lady Une went back to finishing up her work. When she finally looked up, she saw a familiar green orb in the other chair. "Is that...?"

With a sigh, Relena looked over at Haro. "We're still working on the 'stay' command. He just wants to go everywhere with me like some kind of watchdog."

"HELLO, LADY UNE."

"I see its vocabulary is improving at the very least."

"It still hasn't called Heero by his right name yet, though." She laughed again. "It's 'Hello, Amuro' this and 'Hello, Amuro' that."

"HELLO, AMURO THIS AND HELLO, AMURO THAT."

"...And apparently, that's how it learns more words."

Lady Une shook her head as she slid the papers into a side drawer. "Anyway, the reason I called you here is to ask if you wanted to participate in the testing of the new prototypes we're building."

"You have to ask if I want to do that? You know I'll say yes."

The boss held up a hand to stop Relena. "You didn't let me finish. If you agree to pilot, your MS will be based off of the one you brought back from that base. We're still trying to figure out how to make those funnel weapons work."

"I..." Relena leaned back, looking up at the lights in the ceiling. "I wish I could explain how I used those things. All I remember is this feeling of pressure just before I blacked out and..."

"Don't worry about the details. If it works, it does. If it doesn't, it doesn't. And are you sure you want to do this?"

She looked her boss in the eye and nodded. "If it helps me figure out how those things work, I'll do it."

Lady Une nodded. "Then I'll contact you when everything is ready."

* * *

She had been anticipating this for over a month now...so why did she have butterflies in her stomach? Relena paced around the hangar of the Pegasus in front of the Gundam she was going to test pilot. She glanced up at it for what seemed like the millionth time. Its outward appearance looked like nothing so much as a streamlined version of the Gundam Mark II they had pulled from their historical records. However, like its three twins, it had been made to test a specific new technology; in the case of her Unit 2, they had literally ripped the cockpit and Funnel System out of the captured Quebely and installed it in the nameless Gundam so they could try to figure out its mysteries. But she knew that she hadn't even meant to use them back at Oddessa, when the mysterious weapons had saved her life, so how could she expect to use them intentionally? 

"If you don't stop, you're going to wear a hole in the catwalk."

That voice snapped her out of her deep contemplation. Spinning around rapidly, she almost smacked into Heero, who had come up behind her while she wasn't paying attention. "Oh, Heero, I..."

He nodded. "I know, you're nervous. Don't worry, it'll be just like when I taught you how to pilot and the piloting competency tests you took when you joined. No pressure, since your targets will be asteroids."

She looked into his eyes. "Easy for you to say, your test unit doesn't have any weapons with massive unknown factors like mine."

Almost in unison, they glanced over at the Unit 1 he would be piloting. Deciding that the Gundam F91 had multiple useful technological advancements, Heero's machine borrowed all of them that Preventer intended to test: the VSBRs, beam shield and shelf nozzles.

"Right, and if those beam rifles malfunction during the test, you might end up paying for that apartment yourself." Heero shook his head. "Definitely not a way you want to go."

Relena sighed, and then looked towards the floor. Out of nowhere, she started giggling.

"What's so funny?"

She looked up at him, unable to keep a straight face. "I love the outfit. Is it standard issue, or are you just happy to see me?"

Heero looked at himself. He was wearing the standard pilot suit for Preventer, which was similar to the astrosuits except that it was much closer-fitting. He shook his head again as he looked back at her. "Well, as long as our minds are in the gutter, maybe you could tell me how cold it is in here...oh, wait, you already are."

Feigning shock, Relena covered her breasts with one arm and mock-slapped his cheek. "You pervert! You're worse than Duo!"

"...Except that it's nothing I haven't seen before," he said with forced lechery in his voice

She crossed her arms over her chest and turned away from him in an exaggerated show of anger. "I don't think I want to talk to you right now."

Grinning, he leaned over her shoulder and whispered in her ear: "Would a nice romantic dinner tonight improve your mood?"

"...It might." Despite her false resistance, Relena couldn't keep the smile from showing on her face. She turned her head enough to catch him in a brief kiss, then reached around and pulled him closer for another, deeper one.

"Eeew...get a room, you two!"

Still looking into those deep blue eyes that captivated her so much, Relena said, "If you don't like it, you can shove it, Maxwell."

Trowa couldn't resist a little jibe: "He's just jealous that he doesn't have Hilde along with him on long missions or stakeouts the way you two do."

"English translation: Duo misses booty."

The three Gundam pilots blinked in surprise at that last taunt. Their female companion saw their expressions and batted her eyelashes innocently. "Just trying to be one of the boys."

That drew laughs from the guys. Heero put his arm around her waist. "Just don't become too much of a boy, dear. I love you, but that is a severe turn-off."

Just then, Zechs walked in from the front of the ship. The Pegasus, one of many ships Preventer had seized from old stockpiles, was a Leo Mothership which had been altered so that while it held half as many Mobile Suits, it wasn't limited to only Leos. Originally, the ship had been identical to the fleet OZ had produced between the Leo's mass production and Romafeller's collapse. But after accessing the historical records and learning of White Base, the Gundam pilots had suggested giving the ship a paint job similar to the legendary carrier whose name it unintentionally bore.

"Nice to see everyone in good spirits," he said as he looked at the grins on their faces. Relena saw his expression harden slightly when he saw Heero's arm around her waist. Even though they had explained things to him, he still thought of the Gundam pilot as his rival and it bothered him seeing his little sister with his rival. Moreover, like all big brothers, he probably would never approve of her dating for fear of losing the image of his innocent baby sister in his memory. She hoped that he wouldn't be giving her the same stern looks of disapproval on her wedding day; she wanted him to walk her down the aisle.

She pulled herself out of a happy daydream when he turned to her. "You'll be testing in B field. A couple of escort Tauruses will take you out there. Once you're out there, test out the weapons systems on the asteroids marked with beacons."

"Right."

He went on, assigning Duo and Trowa to their areas. After everything was set, the four pilots climbed into their Gundams and strapped themselves in. Relena pulled on her helmet and activated the Gundam's systems. The doors on the outside of the ship opened up, revealing the inky blackness of space. She pressed down on the right foot pedal, and her MS began gently thrusting out of the carrier. Checking the screens, she found a group of white Tauruses floating some distance away. Leaning the left-hand control stick, she turned her Gundam to the left, and then stepped on the pedal again, moving up to the pair she assumed was her escorts, using the left pedal to bring herself to a stop.

A communications window appeared on her monitor, showing another person in a Preventers uniform. "Miss Nakajima?"

Relena nodded. "That's me."

"Follow us."

The two Tauruses turned and lead her into a section of the asteroid belt marked off with yellow beacons. On her heads-up display, she saw a 3D map that outlined her section, as well as the guys' and the targets. After leading her to the middle of the section, the Tauruses began pulling away. "We'll be directing the targets by remote from a distance. Happy hunting."

"Thanks, but somehow I doubt asteroids are in the same league as OZ pilots...they don't scream as much, anyhow."

The Taurus pilots laughed as they flew off. Relena sat, waiting, trying to get herself psyched up. She still had her initial fears about this, but talking with Heero always made her feel better. Before she could continue, the buzzer signaling the start of the exercise came in over her speakers.

She waited, watching the 3D radar for the red dots that indicated the "enemies". In preparation, she used the right control stick to set her Gundam to shooting mode. The alarms beeped as an asteroid came in from above and behind her. Whirling the Gundam around, she didn't even wait to get a target lock before pulling the trigger. The beam saber stored on the underside of the right arm shot out a small burst of beam fire, blowing the asteroid to pieces. Feeling a bit showy, she targeted all the smaller pieces and, in a couple of bursts, reduced them to powder. After a couple of seconds, another rock came towards her. She switched to melee mode and the saber hilt slid into the Gundam's hand, the beam blade issuing forth like flames on a match head. When the asteroid came close, she pulled the trigger, slashing downwards...

...And missed. Stunned at first, she saw the apogee motor on the asteroid's side firing, pushing it to the left. Rolling her eyes, she opened her communications monitor and spoke to the Taurus pilot from before. "Real cute, guys."

The young man, who had been chuckling before, let out a nasal laugh. "Sorry, I couldn't resist."

Relena sighed. "Well, real enemies don't just sit there and let you kill them, so I suppose it's more realistic." Targeting the rock again, she dashed towards it this time and managed to halve it. She let out a ragged breath, fogging up her helmet. Frustrated with herself, she pulled it off long enough to wipe the inside clean before pulling it back on and sealing it.

Then Relena realized that it had been about a minute since the last asteroid had been sent at her. She went back to communications mode, but all she got from the Taurus pilots was dead air. Now she was worried. Changing the frequency, she connected to the Pegasus.

"Lightning here, my escorts aren't responding. Is something wrong? Over."

"Wind here. It seems that way...they just disappeared from our displays as well. Something mig..." Then static filled the line, washing her brother's voice away. She looked around the field; in the distance, she could see the explosions from the others' exercises. She tried contacting the others, but all she got was more static.

Just as she was about to head back to the ship, that feeling shot through her mind. This time, however, something was different. In the past, all she had gotten from that feeling was an indication of danger. Now, she could tell that a Mobile Doll was behind her, preparing to fire a beam cannon at her Gundam's back. Spinning around partially, she extended the Gundam's left arm and fired the beam gun, which punched through the MD's chest and set off its reactor. For a second, the bright flash blinded her. Then, the static subsided and almost instantly, monitors from the Pegasus and the other Gundams began cluttering the spherical cockpit display.

"Guys, I just got attacked by a Mobile Doll. I think my Tauruses were also destroyed by it. I couldn't even detect it until it was right on top of me. Something is definitely up."

Then all Hell broke loose. The communications faded once more. Thrown off her stride, Relena took a second to calm herself down. In less time than it took to blink, her alarms began screaming. Looking around the empty space, she saw shimmering, mirage-like images resolve themselves into what were unmistakably Virgos. She made sure to get a screen capture of one of them; the fact that they were silver and much bulkier than previous models, especially around the legs, was definitely worth noting. They deployed their planet defensors and began firing at her.

Knowing what they were planning, Relena boosted upwards quickly, avoiding the shots. However, a ray of beam fire shot right in front of her Gundam and she had to stop to avoid being hit. All of a sudden, beams came from all around, most keeping her pinned down while the others hit her Gundam dead-on. She did her best to dodge, but at least six of the Virgos were working to keep her immobile so the other three could attack her. Rattling around in the cockpit, she was thankful for the harness that kept her in place and prevented the violent motions from snapping her neck. She tried to fire at one of the Virgos, but her beam shots dissipated harmlessly against its defensor field. Angry and running out of options, she ignited both beam sabers and threw them like darts, slicing off one MD's gun arm and punching through the head of another. But the shots kept coming. And then...

Just as suddenly, the fire began slacking off, then came to a halt altogether. She opened her eyes and saw something that caught her as completely off-guard as the Virgos had.

"...A red Tallgeese?"

The pilot, whose voice held a bit of a British accent, chuckled darkly. "Gundams are overrated...who needs them when you have a good old Leo? Are you alright in there?"

Breathless, Relena nodded. "Other than a couple of bruises, I'm alright. This Gundam's seen better days, though. Thanks for the assistance."

Rosshe leaned back in the Tallgeese-S's chair and looked down at himself. More specifically, he looked at the dark gray and silver Preventers pilot suit he now wore. Still feeling a bit out of place, he replied, "That's what teammates are for, right?"

"Right. I..." Suddenly, something clicked in her mind. She pulled up the image she had taken of the Virgo and looked closely at it. At the sight of a pair of gold boxes on its shoulders, she ground her teeth. "Whoever built those things gave them hyper jammers. That must be why my communications were so spotty."

Rosshe started to say something, but Relena completely missed it. She felt a pain in the side of her head so sharp that she reached up to check if she wasn't bleeding. Instantly, she knew where the hurt was coming from: "Heero!"

She turned her Gundam towards the gray field he was testing in and rocketed off towards his location, leaving the former knight alone. He started after her, but a shot passed under the Tallgeese's arm, tearing a hole in its cloak. Spinning around, he found himself confronted with two more teams of Virgos. Rosshe reached for his Gundam's hip and drew out a beam saber, its handle shaped like a fencing saber. "Well boys, do you want to see how your programming stacks against my skills? En garde!"

Relena knew she was burning away propellant, but she didn't care. Her body was sore with injuries she was sure were coming from Heero. Before she got too close, she could see countless silver shapes crowded around his Gundam, keeping him locked down the same as they had done to her. Her blood was boiling; who was doing this, and how did they manage to make such powerful MD without attracting Preventer's attention?

She blinked. In her mind's eye, she saw herself, battered and fading into unconsciousness as those Mobile Suits from a bygone era closed in on her. She remembered that sensation of pressure just before she passed out. Her last thoughts had been of Heero, actually longing for the days when he was always there, like her own personal superhero. And now, he was actually in danger of losing his life and she was the one doing the rescuing.

"I can't fail. I can't. I refuse to lose him. But how do I fight those things?"

When Relena opened her eyes, she had the answer. She concentrated on one of the Virgos, trying to imagine one of the funnels flying up behind it and firing a shot through its back, destroying it. She blinked again, but when she opened her eyes this time, one of the MD exploded in front of her. She was shocked until she saw the white, cone-like shape hovering in open space. Instantaneously, she concentrated on the other Virgos surrounding Heero. The remaining seven funnels launched off of her Gundam's back and joined their fellow, split up, and began buzzing around like a swarm of hornets, eluding the Virgos' fire and occasionally taking shots when they found an opening. In a matter of seconds, they were all gone. She flew up to the battered Gundam and opened a channel.

"Heero? Are you there?"

For the longest ten seconds of her life, there was nothing. Then she heard his strained voice; he sounded breathless. "Yeah, I've taken some hits. They managed to crack my helmet, so I had to take it off. How are you?"

"I'm fine." Silently, Relena thanked God for keeping Heero alive despite someone's best efforts to the contrary. She started to reach out for his Gundam, but it leveled one of the back-mounted beam rifles at her. She flinched instinctively, afraid that something was wrong...

...Until a beam, as thin as a pencil, passed right above her Gundam's right shoulder. Looking at the rear monitor, she saw a Virgo with a shot clean through its camera eye fade into view. She pulled out of the way and he rained more shots into it, piercing the defensor field and shredding it. She grabbed his heavily damaged Gundam and rocketed away from the explosion and back towards the ship. Along the way, they were joined by Duo, Trowa, and only three of the eight original Tauruses. They docked in the Pegasus, and the second she was out of her Gundam, Relena ran over to Heero's. She opened the emergency release for the cockpit and let him out of his harness while he tried to stem the flow of blood from a wound on the side of his head. One of his arms over her shoulders, she helped him outside, where Sally took him off of her and Zechs looked at the damaged Gundams - and beaten pilots - with concern.

"Just what the hell happened out there?"

Before anyone could reply, the sound of someone stomping down the catwalk drew their attention. Rosshe pulled off his helmet and brushed a few strands of platinum blonde hair out of his eyes. "You'll get the chance to find out for yourself. I managed to short out one with the screw whip, so most if its systems will be intact. But as much as we've gathered, these were completely new MD...based off of the Gundams."

Relena looked at the retreating form of Heero as he was lead off to get medical treatment, and then back at her brother. "I don't get it. Nobody knew about those tests except us, so how could they have sent those MD to attack us?"

* * *

He was sitting at his desk, filling out another unnecessary form when the computer beeped, signaling a videophone call. Taking a second to check the sender, he went and locked the door before sitting back down at the desk. Using the mouse, he clicked on the "Accept" button. A video window appeared, showing a man in a mint-colored astrosuit with several of the silver Virgos behind him. 

"I'm sorry to bother you at work, sir, but we lost thirty Virgo-Quads today."

"Really?" Rather than the annoyance one would expect, interest filled the man's voice. "Who decided to wander all the way out there and disrupt their auto-response systems?"

The engineer checked his displays one more time before replying. "From the markings on the MS and the intercepted transmissions, it was Preventer, testing out some new MS. And apparently, they're using designs taken from our database at Oddessa."

"Shit, I knew that was going to come back to bite us in the ass. Well, I guess we know what we have to do now."

"Sir? Are you saying that you plan on eliminating Preventer? But they've got the Gundam pilots and Zechs Marquise, and apparently Rosshe Natono has joined them as well."

The man snorted. "You just get to work on those new designs, especially the Helios. I'll deal with the brats and the traitors. After all, it's my job."

"Yes, sir." The link terminated, leaving the man alone in his office once more. He rose from his chair and looked out the window at the bustling city streets beneath him. He knew that 01, the pilot of Wing Zero, was in Preventer. He fought back the urge to punch the window when he remembered that face.

"I should have shot you when I had the chance back then...it would have made my life a whole lot easier."

Without another word, he unlocked the door and went back to work.


	5. Ghosts of OZ

Codename: Lightning  
A Shin Kidou Senshi Gundam W fanfic by Preventer Void  
Chapter 5: Ghosts of OZ

* * *

Relena flipped through the file folder. She closed it and leaned against a nearby wall, then opened it again. She sighed; it still said the same thing. The Preventers techs had managed to examine that new Virgo they had captured about as thoroughly as any human being could, and the results weren't pleasant. Instead of using the more advanced Virgo II employed by White Fang, this person had used the original "bulldoze over everything" Virgo OZ had used to destroy the Kingdom. However, there were quite a few changes: higher output on the beam cannon, upgraded planet defensors, anti-beam coating for the weapons that got through the defensors, and active jammers to give it complete invisibility...no matter whether you were a generic soldier or a Gundam pilot, fighting something like that was not fun. 

Even worse was the fact that there were no manufacturing details to be found, on the armor or in the computers. Instead, all the places where such information should have been were left completely blank. Whoever had designed these had made sure not to leave anything leading back to himself. Relena ground her teeth in frustration. However much they learned about this new Virgo, she would have traded it all just to know the name of the person who ordered its construction. For a second, she thought about using her connections in the government, then she chided herself for thinking like a politician and not a Preventer. Tucking the folder under her arm, she walked on down the hall.

Since she was on the first floor, she had to take the elevator up to her office. However, she heard the sounds of combat from down a hall in the opposite direction. More than curiosity, she felt something else spurring her on to find out what it was. As she came down the carpeted hallway, she realized that the sounds were coming from the workout room; probably just someone sparring. That was almost enough to make her head back towards the elevator, but she felt obligated to look into the room all the same. Not wanting to disturb the combatants, she simply peeked in from the side of the door.

Standing a fair distance apart, she saw Heero and Wu Fei, clad in white gi with black belts, staring each other down. But for the sheen of perspiration on their flesh and the panting, one might have thought they hadn't begun yet. Before she could blink, Wu Fei dashed forward towards his opponent. They exchanged a series of punches, sweeps and strikes, seeming to be evenly matched. But then Heero feinted a sweep and instead performed a high kick, knocking the Chinese pilot on his back. Pausing to wipe the sweat out of his eyes, Heero reached a hand out.

Wu Fei took the hand, although it looked like he was unsatisfied. "You're getting harder to predict. Nice to see somebody around here improves."

"I've been doing martial arts for years, it's almost as much a part of me as piloting." Here, the brown-haired teen frowned. "Besides, you don't always have a gun. It's useful to know just in case."

"Right. Plus, I imagine it helps you with your little headaches?"

Heero nodded. "I barely have them anymore. It's a far cry from those fainting spells I had when I was younger."

Here, Wu Fei crossed his arms across his chest. "Out of curiosity, have you tried a spin in the prototype with those weapons?"

"You mean the one Relena used?" Heero looked out the wide windows as a sparrow landed on one of the trees planted around the parking lot. "No, I've been a little too busy with the current developments." After a brief pause, he turned to his companion. "Are you suggesting that she's..."

The Chinese teen shrugged. "Possibly. Have you tried a CAT scan?"

"It doesn't show anything abnormal on me, so it's no good. However..." His eyes went to a black-wrapped object over in the corner of the room.

Wu Fei rolled his eyes. "Right, right, how could I forget?" He retrieved the object, which turned out to be a slightly curved Chinese sword. He pulled out a black sash and handed it to Heero. The Japanese pilot placed a pair of foam earplugs in his ears before went to the center of the room and tied a black sash around his head, blocking his sight completely.

"Whenever you're ready," he said.

Relena watched in silent awe. What the hell was he doing? She didn't have to wait long to find out, as Wu Fei got to Heero's back and took a diagonal swing with his sword. To her wide-eyed shock, he dodged as perfectly as if he hadn't been handicapped. Wu Fei took a vertical slice, but Heero side-stepped out of the way. The next few minutes were a blur, as attack after attack was avoided with minimal effort. Relena knew she was gaping. This was incredible...how was he...

Then their words came back to her. Feeling a bit overwhelmed, she rushed off to the elevator. Maybe when she was back in her office, the world would make sense once more.

* * *

Heero sat on the bed that evening, cracking away at his laptop. The data they had obtained had been invaluable in not only weapons design and technological advances, but also in historical information. Although he had already read the data for the Universal Century, After War, and Cosmic Era periods throuroughly, he opened up the document for the Gryps Conflict. Something about the situation struck a chord within him, and he was still trying to learn about this Amuro Ray person...maybe he could finally figure out how to get that damn robot to call him by his proper name... 

Before he could get into the deployment of the Gundam Mk-II, he felt the all-too-familiar sensation jolt in his head. Something blunt was flying at his head at a decent clip. Instinctively, he reached over his shoulder and caught it, and then took a good look at it.

"Trying to subtlety tell me I need a bath?" he asked, examining the bar of soap.

Relena shook her head. "I guess it wasn't a fluke. You really were doing that this afternoon, weren't you?"

He looked at her seriously. "You saw?"

She nodded slowly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to spy on you or anything, but I heard you two practicing and when I went to look, I saw...that. Sorry."

Sighing, he put his laptop in standby mode and placed it on the chair next to the nightstand. "I guess this is the part where I tell you how this all started."

"Only if you don't mind."

They leaned back against the pillows and Heero looked up at the ceiling and the fan as it spun, diligently stirring the muggy summer air. "The first time I remember getting that sensation...I was eight, and it was shortly after Doctor J took me in as a Gundam pilot. One night, I had a dream that there was someone stalking around the facility, killing everyone until he came to me. The dream was so real that I felt the knife running across my throat just before I woke up. I knew it was a dream...but the feeling of unease was still there. Since the guy snuck in through the hangar in my dream, I went there to check it out...and I got there in time to see him break a window and climb inside. I managed to subdue him, and everyone was suitably impressed that I managed to know he was there."

"I can imagine," she interrupted.

Heero looked at her for a second, then continued. "The next day, the doctor talked to me about it. I told him about the dream, and he explained that people developed their minds more rapidly in space than on Earth...but it seemed that the artificial reproductive methods people had to use early in the colonization period all but eliminated that growth, so the idea of people with superior abilities faded into obscurity."

Relena sat up quickly. "Does that mean that Doctor J knew about the past?"

"Probably, him and the other engineers as well. But who would believe some old crackpots raving about centuries of Mobile Suit warfare less than a decade after they created the 'first' military MS? Anyway, he told me that I should probably develop my abilities more, but to keep them a secret from the people in the Barton Foundation who came by periodically to check on our progress."

"Ugh...knowing Dekim, he probably would have held you up as an example of the superiority of space-born humans, like that Giren Zabi person."

Heero nodded, then looked back up at the ceiling. "Well, as I trained, I got stronger. I gained the ability to sense people by...well, I don't quite know how to describe it. I guess you could compare it to thermal imaging. When people experience different emotions, their brains give off different signals. I was able to detect and interpret those signals. When someone attempted to hurt me, I detected their hostility long before their attack and was able to avoid it. Eventually, I was able to pick up upon subtleties in peoples' mental waves that allowed me to sense particular people based off of the underlying image of their personality, so I could tell who a person was without looking."

Relena looked over at him, then shook her head slowly. "Wow."

He chuckled dryly. "There's more. Apparently, these abilities involve mechanical prowess. There's an example of a person who examined a few wires in a Mobile Suit and was able to pilot it perfectly afterwards without any prior training. Also, there's our old friend Amuro, who was 15 when he invented the advanced AI robot Haro. The list goes on."

"Gee, is there anything else?"

Here, Heero pulled out his computer and started it up. After crunching away for a minute or two, he handed it over to her; he had opened a document about the Babylonia Conflict and the Jupiter Empire. "Read about the biocomputer."

"'The next significant development was the biocomputer designed by the Federal Forces' Strategic Naval Research Institute, a complement to the psycommu system that allowed the Mobile Suit's computer to transmit raw data, sensory impressions, and tactical advice directly into the pilot's brain.'"

"Sound familiar?"

She looked up from the computer and his deep blue eyes. "Are you saying that the ZERO System and System EPYON..."

"...Seem to be further refinements of this technology, only set up so that non-psychic pilots can reap the full benefits. However, the tradeoff is that they cause mind-warping side effects, as the others can attest to."

Relena handed him the computer and flopped back against the pillows. "This is incredible..."

"Not really," countered Heero as he cracked away at the computer. "It seems that the Alliance kept a tight lid on the history, but Romafeller gave some of it out to their engineers working on the Tallgeese. That's why the Gundams have magnetic coating on the joints - from the One-Year War - and why Deathscythe's hyper jammers work. Some time before the transition to the After War era, scientists perfected a new type of nuclear fusion engine that eliminated the radar-hampering Minovski particle. However, Deathscythe has an additional Minovski reactor that it uses to release those particles and scramble enemy radar."

"This gets more confusing every second...and you think I'm one of these gifted people?"

He closed the laptop, paused before replying. "Yes. You told me that you experienced a form of danger sense during training...you were able to complete Haro despite the fact that you can't even change a flat tire..."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Bite me."

"Hey, you said so yourself." That got him a smack upside the head with a pillow. "Anyway, there's also this one thing...during the war, and then Dekim's attempted coup, did you ever just...say my name, for no real reason?"

Relena nodded.

"...And did you ever 'hear' me say yours back to you."

"Yes..."

He smiled. "Then that proves it."

"Oh really?" She sat up and looked him in the eye. "In that case, what am I thinking about right now?"

After a minute pause, his smile turned lecherous. "Apparently, the same thing I am."

"Excellent..."

Several hours later, they were sound asleep in each others' arms. As abruptly as a gunshot, she sat bolt-upright in bed, gasping for breath. Slowly, Heero rose and turned on the lamp on his nightstand.

"What is it?"

She clutched the sheets to her bare chest protectively as she struggled to find the words. "I just felt..."

He sighed before breaking in. "This is the part of these abilities that you won't like. Among the ability to sense peoples' presence...you can sense when they stop. In other words, you feel people die."

"And what are we doing here while people are dying! Come on!" Relena almost jumped out of bed, but Heero caught her arm.

"And this is the part where you're probably going to think less of me."

She looked at him seriously. "What is it?"

"...Ever since I was ten, I've sensed peoples' deaths. I stopped caring when I hit eleven."

"WHAT!" It was practically impossible to tell what was stronger in her voice, shock or outrage.

"Relena, look at it from my point of view. I've been at this for a while, so my abilities are more developed than yours. On Earth, I can sense everyone within a small nation or a medium-sized state. In space, I can sense an entire colony cluster. When I was ten, I wanted to be able to save everyone. But then I realized that eternal vigilance is impossible. People die. We CAN'T save everyone. Our job is to prevent people who want to harm others...but what about those who have serious diseases? Or heart defects? Or breathing problems? Or those who are just very old? We can stop anarchists and murderers, but we can't stop nature. If we tried, we would kill ourselves because every second we spent eating, or sleeping, or even using the bathroom is a second where someone dies. I hate to say it, but you're going to have to be a bit more cynical about it."

She gradually calmed down during his speech; by the time he was done, her shoulders were sagging in defeat. "It still hurts. I can hear them...those people were killed."

"I know." He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, kissing her cheek. "Deaths like that hurt the most. All we can do is stop whoever did it so nobody else suffers. But it's late. We should get some sleep."

Numbly, she nodded. They slid back under the covers, and Heero dozed off soon after. Relena was left alone, wondering how she could ever learn to ignore death when she could feel the void everyone left behind personally.

* * *

"I wonder if I could find a way to kill them and label it justifiable homicide." 

The assembled Preventers stopped in mid-step on their way to the meeting room. That rather pleasant sentiment had been voiced by their leader. She looked up and saw them frozen in the doorway.

"Well, take your seats and you'll get to see what's bothering me," she said impatiently.

The cloud of people thinned out and got to their usual seats. The second everyone was settled, Lady Une slapped a stack of newspapers down on the polished mahogany table. Trowa picked one of them up and read from an editorial which had been outlined in red marker.

"'And where were the Preventers when this shuttle was attacked? Probably snuggled all warm in their beds, comforted by the thought that the taxpaying citizens were filling their pockets and they didn't have to lift a finger. What are we paying for, anyway? A glorified Space Police, or is it more sinister? Are these former "aces of the war" forming their own criminal syndicate and forcing the world to pay protection money, lest they swoop down upon us with their Gundams and conquer the planet?'"

Duo threw his hands in the air in disgust. "Someone buy that man a dictionary and underline the word 'gratitude' while you're at it."

"If that's your plan, you're going to need a lot of dictionaries," Rosshe observed as he skimmed through another editorial. "The way these people are writing, you'd think we were supposed to be invincible superheroes that never sleep and can solve any problem with a thought." At that comment, Heero and Relena exchanged a knowing glance.

Wu Fei grunted. "They're starting to take what we do for granted. Do you think they even remember the war, or Barton's little coup?"

"Probably not," Relena answered. "When it comes to politics, people are remarkably short-sighted. If you don't give out immediate and breath-taking results, they question your value."

Heero decided to change focus before anyone got too depressed. "Do we know what attacked the shuttle?"

Lady Une slid a monochrome photograph towards him. "The flight recorder camera managed to get this image...we were lucky to recover it."

Everyone crowded around and looked at the photo. Wu Fei slammed his fist down onto the table. "Son of a bitch..."

"So, whoever made those new Virgos isn't just satisfied attacking us literally, he has to do it personally too," commented Zechs.

"And his timing couldn't be worse," Lady Une fumed. "Tomorrow, I was going to go to the ESUN Senate to ask for clearance to...well, enhance the Gundams."

Everyone paused at that. Duo was the first to speak. "You mean you were..."

His boss nodded. "I was going to ask for some extra money and permission to make more Gundanium so we could see about upgrading your Gundams and possibly making more for Zechs, Rosshe and anyone else who might join. I was about to send a message to the Barnett brothers at MO-V..."

The former Stardust Knight shook his head slowly. "Best to not bother them. Those two said themselves that all they want to do is work on space exploration, like their father wanted. If the situation gets really dire, they'll probably join of their own volition."

"Alright, could I get two volunteers to go with me tomorrow? I'm going to need help convincing these people that we need the extra help."

Heero rose from his chair. "I'll go. I've been studying the new MD's design, and as near as I can tell, they're in a class beyond our Gundams. I'll explain that to the senators."

Relena stood as well. "Me too."

"Is that such a good idea?" Trowa asked as he looked at her. "What happens if someone recognizes you?"

The young woman shook her head. "It's been half a year, and unlike some celebrities, I didn't get any of the usual 'she faked her death' bull. It really seems that people think I'm dead. Besides," here she began smirking rather darkly, "I know how the political mind works. I ought to be able to help you get through those thick skulls."

Lady Une nodded. "We're certainly going to need it."

* * *

"Say, Relena." 

"Hm?"

"Did I ever say your job with the government was easy?"

"Not to my recollection."

"Good."

Heero shook his head in disgust as he glanced around the Senate room. He and Relena were currently acting as Lady Une's bodyguards/assistants in her meeting with the governing body of the Earth Sphere United Nations. Nobody had ever thought that this would be anything but an uphill battle, but with the swing of public opinion, the Preventers had their work cut out for them.

The Vice-President banged his gavel for order, then pointed it into the crowded seats. "The chair recognizes the honorable Senator Williams of Austria."

The young senator straightened his tie as he rose, and then spoke. "Now, I have absolutely nothing bad to say about Preventer, especially given all the sterling work they've done for the past three years. But what exactly kept you and your people from stopping that shuttle from being destroyed?"

Lady Une looked the young senator in the eyes. "With all due respect, Senator, our agents are still human. As you'll note, the attack occurred at roughly four in the morning L1 time. All of my subordinates were in bed, and we had no way of predicting that attack."

Looking satisfied, Williams sat down. The Vice-President called for another senator to speak. Since they wouldn't be needed for a while, Heero leaned over and whispered in Relena's ear. "So, which of these guys was the one who..."

Before he could even finish asking his question, she shook her head decisively. "I'm not telling."

"Relena..." Even though he was trying to be quiet to keep from disturbing the meeting, there was an obvious tone of annoyance in his voice.

Relena looked straight at him, meeting his eye. "Heero, I know the way you think. If I tell you, odds are you'll go up into the seats and kick his ass here and now. People seem to really think I'm gone, so that means that that guy is basically free."

"What!"

"Look, only he and I know what happened. If you make a big deal out of it, he can deny it ever happened, and the only way we can confirm that it did would be if I revealed my identity. That's not going to happen."

"...Well, I think that question would be better answered by my subordinates." They looked up just as Lady Une turned to them. "Could you two explain why exactly we need this funding."

Nodding, Heero stood and stepped up to the podium. "Approximately a week ago, we were training some new recruits near the asteroid belt when they came under fire from a new model of the Virgo Mobile Doll. Since they were in low-level machines at the time, and there weren't many MD, only their skill allowed our people to survive." Here, he smirked. "In fact, I was there and I'm still not fully recovered from all that they did to me. The only reason I'm here to talk to you is because my girlfriend is very understanding. Anyway, during the battle we were able to capture one of the Virgos, so we took it back to HQ for study."

Impatiently, one of the senators interrupted. "I don't see why you can't just use those damned Gundams to beat whoever this is. It worked against White Fang and the Barton Foundation. All this song and dance just seems like an excuse to squeeze more money out of the taxpayers."

As several of the senators made grumbling noises of ascent, Lady Une leaned over to Relena and whispered, "I wonder how he can stay so calm...these old men are so hard-headed that I'm giving myself a migraine just by talking to them."

"I guess he's used to dealing with bothersome people," the young woman mused. Secretly, she was a bit impressed that Heero hadn't blown up on the senator. Then she remembered all the training Barton had put him through and stopped wondering.

His voice still as neutral as it had been before the rude interruption. "Reiko, the file?" Nodding, Relena handed him a CD, which he popped into the computer built into the podium. After crunching away for a second or two, the large projection screen that displayed the ESUN's logo changed into the data file they had compiled about the new MD.

"This is the machine in question. Until we learn its real designation, we've codenamed it the OZ-05MS Virgo IV. Its design is based after the original Virgo and the Perfect Peace People's Virgo3. The armor is made of neo-titanium, and thick enough to withstand most ballistic weapons. The silver coating you see is anti-beam coating, which works to dissipate ranged beam weapons as they hit the armor. The black and gold boxes on the shoulders are active jammers, which disrupt radar and make auto-targeting useless. The large beam cannon mounted over the right arm has higher output than anything employed by a mass production MS, and it has the ability to generate a beam blade for melee combat. Altogether, this machine rates on a level with the original five Gundams. When deployed in large numbers, they make a formidable opponent.

"Gentlemen, whoever made these machines sent them after that shuttle. We know because of a photograph recovered from the shuttle after it was destroyed. The person who attacked us is making it obvious that they're out to get more than just Preventer. The Gundams are tough enough to fight these things, but if there are enough of them, they'll overwhelm us and we'll get killed. If we get killed, then it'll be up to civilians with Leos and Tauruses to protect the planet. Tell me, would you still fancy your chances if that happened?"

That made the senators stop their unhappy chatter right there. They started muttering amongst themselves as Heero stepped away from the podium and went over to Lady Une and Relena.

"Do you think that'll do?"

Smiling, the head of Preventer nodded. "I think it will."

* * *

"After serious consideration, the Senate decided today to approve Preventer's request for more funding to deal with the new threat of..." 

The man looked at the television in his office and scowled. In disgust, he turned it off, then slammed the remote down on the desk hard enough to crack the plastic. He took the newspaper off of his desk and ripped it in half with his bare hands before throwing the mass of paper into the trash can.

"Those useless old men...this ruins everything. Damn it all!"

He stormed around the office for several minutes, throwing around frustrated comments about the lineage of the governing body's members and their sexual preferences. In the middle of a particularly nasty rant about the Vice-President and his mother, the man stopped. He hurried over to the computer and prepared a line to the Virgo Quad plant.

"Rains!"

The chief engineer, who had been in the middle of some other activity, came around to look at the monitor as it blinked on. "Yes, sir?"

"Are the new toys ready yet?"

The mechanic pulled a document out of a manila folder and looked at it before replying. "We're gearing up to mass produce them, but so far only one unit has been completed."

"Can't be helped, I suppose...load up one hundred Virgos and the completed machine into dropships and sent them towards Earth."

Rains did a double-take. "But sir, we're starting now!"

"No...but the Senate just approved Preventer's request. If we don't strike now, then we'll have to deal with those damnable Gundams after they've been overhauled specifically to battle our new MD. If we attack with a sufficient force, we might be able to destroy them now...who knows? We might not even need to bring out the big guns at all."

"Yes sir, I'll get right on it." Rains reached over and deactivated the monitor. The man leaned back in his chair and smiled. Today might not turn out so bad after all...

* * *

"This is gonna be so cool!" 

Rosshe sighed as he looked over at Duo, who was sketching away at a piece of paper. "Someone get that boy bib before he drools all over the table."

The braided teen stuck his tongue out at the former Knight. "You're just jealous because my new Deathscythe is gonna be a million times cooler than your old Tallgeese. It's gonna have fangs, and claws, and wings, and a whole bunch of other cool toys!"

Wu Fei shook his head. "When did redesigning the Gundams suddenly become a competition?"

"It really doesn't matter to me," Trowa commented. "Duo can have the coolest-looking one if he wants. But he's gonna be sorry when our Gundams outperform his because we focused on more than just appearance."

Relena looked at the guys and fought back a smile. In a sense, it was like watching a boy playing with new action figures or something. But then she stopped and wondered what she would use. All these guys had MS they had used before. The only thing she had was the prototype, which had been horribly outclassed by the new Virgos. So what would she pilot?

Just then, there was a knock on the meeting room door, pulling her back to the present. Everyone looked up and saw Howard, Hawaiian shirt and all, standing in the doorway. "Hey Duo, you done with your design yet? You guys realize that he's had about four or five different designs he's passed along to me so far. At this rate, we'll have enough blueprints to build an army of Deathscythes."

"As long as they don't come with their own pilots," Trowa mused.

Wu Fei gave an exaggerated shudder. "Thanks, now I'll be too scared to sleep tonight."

"You guys just plain suck," Duo countered. "Anyway, I'm trying to figure which of these designs I like better...the reaper or the demon."

Looking over the braided boy's shoulder, Rosshe shrugged. "Use both."

"Huuuuunh?"

"Look, just make it so that the claws on the hands and feet retract into shoulder and leg armor, and have the cloak wrap around the body. It's not that hard...in fact, one of my old MS did something similar."

Duo looked at the two sketches, then back up at the former OZ pilot, then back and the drawings. Without warning, he jumped up and hugged Rosshe tightly. "Dude, you are officially the man! That's brilliant!"

The blonde man grimaced. "That's nice...now get your face away from mine before I feed you those drawings."

Duo handed the papers to Howard, who looked at them and nodded. "Not bad...I suppose I'll have to talk to Dick and Sernan about helping me combine them like you suggested. But it could work." Just as he started to walk out, the mechanic's gaze fell upon Relena. "Ooh, I almost forgot. There was something I wanted to talk to you about in the hangar."

The young woman nodded. "Sure, lead the way."

The two of them took their leave of the others and walked down the carpeted hallways towards the hangar which had been built into the wall of the colony as a dedicated spaceport for Preventer. Howard took off his sunglasses and polished them on his shirt. "Now, I know that while the boys all have their toys to play with, you don't really have anything to call your own. Am I correct?"

Relena smiled. "You are, and I'm starting to think you're psychic. I was just thinking about that when you walked in back there."

"Well, I believe I have a solution. We're gonna see about making you a Gundam based off of Wing Zero's design. In fact, we already started work on the movable frame."

As he spoke, they walked into the vast expanse of the hangar. In addition to a couple of Preventer Cruisers and the officially christened Pegasus, there was a deck dedicated solely to the Mobile Suits. Standing against the wall were Wing Zero, Deathscythe Hell, Heavyarms Kai, Sandrock Kai, Altron, Tallgeese III, Tallgeese-S, and Noin's white Taurus. Relena looked over and saw something familiar being loaded into a container ship. "Isn't that...?"

Howard followed her gaze, then nodded. "Yep, since we've gotten the information we needed out of those prototypes, we're going to use some of their parts to work on the new Gundams. Lady Une figured that the less money we take from the UN, the less the senators will complain."

"That makes sense. Anyway, you were saying?"

The bald man pointed towards one of the empty hangars for a Mobile Suit - or, at least it used to be empty. Suspended from the ceiling by strong cables was the framework for a Mobile Suit's chest and arms. Even though it was nothing more than half of a skeleton, she instantly saw a strong similarity to Wing Zero. "That's mine?"

"It will be. But here's the problem...what are you supposed to pilot in the meantime? Well, I thought and I thought about it, and eventually I came up with an idea that I think you'll be pleased with. Take a look." As he spoke, he led her around to the ships' hangar, where a new MS was being unloaded. For a second, the thought that it was the Gundam Mk-II from the historical archives, but a moment's study made her realize that it was, in fact, her Gundam Historical Data Test Type 2, but heavily made over...

"You didn't scrap it?"

Howard shook his head. "We already had the base machine, so I decided to upgrade it so that you'd have something to pilot until the new Gundam is complete. Additionally, it'll serve as a testbed for the new mass production model MS we've been designing. Now, as for the specs..." He pointed to each of the weapons as he named them off. "Obviously, it has the mega beam rifle there, as well as the beam sabers-slash-hand launchers in each forearm. The shield mounts a pair of machineguns, there are beam cannons on the back...oh, and at Lady Une's request, we had those funnels installed as well. If you don't want to use them, I'll totally understand, but..."

"Don't worry about it," Relena said as she looked her new Gundam over. "It gives me a weapon that nobody's seen in ages, and I like the advantage. Besides, if I don't get used to using them, I'll never be able to use them when I really need them."

Before Howard could reply, the alarm started screaming at them. One of the mechanics ran up to them. "Sir, there's a small fleet of enemy ships approaching the Earth! All available pilots have been ordered to launch immediately."

Relena sighed. "I guess that includes me now. Thanks again." She dashed up to the Gundam and put her foot in the stirrup hanging down from the chest, and then pressed one of the buttons on the wire. With a mechanical hum, the winch started up, pulling her up to the cockpit. Once inside, she changed into a pilot suit and attached her helmet. After starting up, she loped towards the opening bay doors and saw the others getting ready to launch. "Do we know what we're dealing with?" she asked.

The voice that replied was her brother's. "No, at this point all we know is that they're sending a lot of OZ's old atmospheric dropships towards the planet. So, we get to intercept them before they can get there."

"Let's go...they're nearing the Earth sphere." That came from Trowa.

The Pegasus launched, followed seconds later by the Gundams and the two Tallgeese, which all flew into the box containers on the ship's sides. Once settled, Relena leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes, dozing off a couple of seconds later.

Before long, the scramble alarm sounded, rousing her from her comfortable nap. Activating the Gundam, she pushed out of the ship after the container door opened and linked up with the others, who were positioned a distance away from the approaching ships.

Heero spoke up first. "Duo, go to stealth mode and give us some recon."

"Roger that!" The ebony bat wings folded around Deathscythe Hell's body, and in a matter of seconds, its form blurred until it was completely invisible. The group waited with baited breath until Maxwell's transmission came back through. "Alright, thermal scans show a couple of pilots in the front and the heat from the engines, but there's nothing in the main body of the ship. I'd bet anything that this is a load of those new model Virgos."

"That's all I needed to hear," said Zechs. The megacannon on Tallgeese III's right shoulder opened up and began charging energy. "Heero, let's hit as many of them as we can before they activate and fight back. Maxwell, get back here before we fire."

"Right."

The two of them waited until Duo's Gundam reappeared near theirs, then Zechs nodded even though nobody else could see the motion.

"Ready...aim...FIRE!"

They opened up with their weapons...and instantly, the area around the Preventers turned into a glowing sea of plasma as countless Virgos uncloaked around them and began firing at the group.

"Holy shit!" cried Wu Fei.

"There are a hundred of them...can we each take fourteen of them," asked Trowa.

"That," Rosshe commented as he pulled out his beam sword and screw whip, "is what we call a day at the office, boys and girls."

Relena had the beam saber slide out of her Gundam's forearm and into its hand, then ignited the blade and made a beeline for the nearest group of Virgos. Having done some gymnastics when she was younger, she had a small idea of what an adrenaline rush felt like. But tumbling and parallel bars just couldn't compare to fighting a horde of mindless killing machines intent upon ending her life. The world seemed to slow to a crawl as bright golden beam shots screamed past her and struck her shield. Slashing through one Virgo, she punched her shield through another's defensor field and fired the machineguns, shredding its head and upper chest. One of the MD's beam cannons erupted with a gigantic beam blade as it charged her. Grunting as she jerked the control sticks, Relena reached her Gundam's left arm up and caught the barrel of the cannon, stopping the blade dead. Letting out an angry war cry, she reeled back and stabbed her own beam saber through the Virgo's chest and slashed upwards, tearing it nearly in half. Picking out a set of Virgos that was receiving less attention, she locked on and pressed the button on top of the right joystick. The two back beam cannons swiveled over her Gundam's shoulders and fired several shots at the enemy MD. As they turned to target her, she jetted forwards and scythed through them with her beam saber. The fighting, the madness, continued for what seemed like forever but turned out to be only two minutes and about fifteen seconds, according to her Gundam's heads-up display. After taking down fourteen of the MD, she stopped to look around. All of the Virgos were destroyed, but the guys' MS were in bad shape.

"Okay, I think that was my limit. If you don't mind, I'm gonna go crawl into bed and die," Duo remarked.

Before anyone could reply, their sensors started going off full-tilt. Something big was coming right at them, and fast. They all barely dodged out of the way as massive column of beam energy shot through the space they had once occupied, followed by an enormous green object that ripped past them and headed towards Earth.

Wu Fei was the first to speak up. "What the hell was that!"

Relena stared after it, wondering exactly the same thing. There was something distinctly familiar about it, but it was just barely out of reach.

"Scorpio!"

All the MS turned to look at Wing Zero; it was Heero who had shouted. "That thing...it's based off of the Scorpio we fought at Vulkanus. Based off of what little, I saw, I'd say that it's a stripped-down mass production model. Might not even be able to transform, but it's still a threat."

Zechs grunted. "We need to stop that thing..."

Looking around, Relena saw that that didn't seem too likely. Tallgeese III was missing its right arm - and hence, the megacannon. The twin buster rifle was nowhere to be seen, but judging by the burns marring Wing Zero's paint, it was gone as well. She looked over at the Scorpio as it raced towards Earth and sighed at her powerlessness. What was the point of being a Preventer if she couldn't protect anyone?

As she glanced down at the console in sadness, something clicked in her mind. She had told Howard that she would use the funnels if she needed them. Well, now more than ever... Restoring her beam saber and pulling the mega beam rifle off her Gundam's rear skirt armor, she turned towards the Scorpio and ignited her thrusters.

"...I'm going for it."

As the Mobile Suit streaked off, followed by a trail of glowing blue fire, Relena closed her eyes and concentrated. In her mind, she saw an image of the red Mobile Armor, retreating from her at top speed. Just as suddenly, her mental picture was filled with a cluster of miniature white objects surrounding it and firing beam shots that cut into its armor, damaging vital systems like the beam cannon charger unit and the fuel tank. As she looked up, still maintaining the picture in her head, she saw exactly that scene in front of her in the real world. One of the funnels' shots had indeed hit the fuel tank, causing an explosion and making a plume of brief black smoke stream from its side. Taking careful aim, she raised her Gundam's mega beam rifle and pumped twice the maximum energy charge through its barrel.

"Here goes nothing!"

Relena pulled the trigger. A collosal wave of gold energy, nearly as big as that from Zero's own twin buster rifle, erupted from the rifle's barrel and raced towards the retreating Mobile Armor. The brightness of the blast temporarily blinded her and would leave a bright streak in her vision for the next few minutes, but when she could finally see clearly again, there was nothing left of the Scorpio but large, glowing red pieces that were rapidly burning up in the atmosphere. All at once, the adrenaline left her, and she slumped over in her seat, exhausted. Issuing a mental command for the funnels to return, she leaned back. There were voices, and she saw that the guys had finally caught up and were asking how she was, how she had done that, and anything else they could think of.

Reaching a hand up, Relena pressed the button to open a comms line to everyone in the general area, then spoke up. "Guys, I'm really tired right now...can this wait until after I get some sleep?"

Nobody argued.

* * *

"Fucking HELL!" 

The man slammed his fist into the desk. He was not happy, to say the least. If only he had sent a few more Virgos, or if the idiot piloting the Zodiac hadn't just rushed off without attacking them...then maybe...

He kicked the small waste basket sharply, sending it into the wall. That attack had been a complete waste. Not only had he lost one hundred MD and a perfectly good MA, they had failed to do any worse than roughing the Gundams up. More money down the drain. Why did he even bother...

Then he noticed his computer, which had a little blinking window telling him that he had an email. Opening it up, he saw that it was from Rains. The body of the message simply said "You might find this interesting...the Scorpius' radio picked it up before it was destroyed."

His interest piqued, the man opened the attachment contained within the mail; it was a short sound file. He opened it up and listened to a cacophony of voices shouting almost indistinctly, but one word kept coming through clearly. And right at the end, a voice he recognized as Heero Yuy's put all doubt to rest.

"Relena! Don't do it!"

The man grinned darkly. Maybe it wasn't a complete waste after all...


	6. The Fall

Codename: Lightning  
A Shin Kidou Senshi Gundam W fanfic by Preventer Void  
Chapter 6: The Fall

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Well, ladies and gentlemen, here it is. After a year and a half of waiting, the next chapter of Codename: Lightning. Firstly, I wish to apologize to all the people I left hanging; I just hope that nobody went and gave up on me for taking so long. If y'all will allow me a bit of hubris, I'd like to think that the delay was worth it. You see, with all the time I had to think things over, I revised the plot of the fic for the better. Looking back, I'm wondering why I thought the original plan was a good idea...

Anyway, let it additionally be noted that in light of these plot changes, I have gone back and revised the first five chapters of the story. Some changes are simply corrections to grammar and spelling, while others are major plot changes which will be dealt with as the story progresses. If you aren't in the mood to re-read the whole story, just skim over it; you can probably get the general idea. Well, I've kept you waiting long enough...enjoy the story!

* * *

A faint feeling of warmth washed over Relena's face like a gentle wave rolling over the beach. She groaned and attempted to ignore it, but with it came light, shining against her eyelids and forcing her to wake up and acknowledge the new day. Tempted to just call in sick, she rolled over to wrap her arms around Heero's chest...and felt nothing. Finally, she opened her eyes and looked at his side of the bed. It was completely unoccupied, even though the clock radio on the nightstand said it was 7:04. Sitting up, the young woman stretched to get the life back in her now-active muscles, then looked back at the clock. Sitting on top of it was a piece of paper folded into an inverted V, her name written on it in his distinctly plain handwriting. Yawning, she reached over and took the note, unfolding it before reading. 

"Relena: Went in early to get some work done. See you when you get there. -H"

Sighing, she dropped the paper in the trash can as she made her way into the bathroom to shower up. As the warm droplets pelted her bare skin, she closed her eyes and reflected on the recent events. What should have been an easy transition into a new life turned out to be chaotic. She wondered if she could have chosen a worse possible time to join Preventer. With this unseen enemy growing more and more aggressive, things weren't looking good. Of course, that was her train of thought before she had seen how horribly the Gundams had fared against the new model Virgos. Howard had estimated that it would take roughly two weeks to upgrade the existing MS and three to build hers from scratch...in that time, any number of things could happen. Deep down inside, Relena felt more dread than she had ever felt before. Usually, the Gundam Team would be able to pull through, no matter how dark things looked. But now...

"If I think like this any more, I'll end up depressing myself," Relena said to herself as she stepped out of the shower stall and wrapped a white towel around her slender form. Yes, there may have been some bad moments, but so far this had been one of the best experiences in her life. She was happy with her new job, people respected her for her skill and intelligence rather than her name, she was treated as an equal...but most importantly, the man she loved had finally admitted his feelings. Afraid that telling him would ruin the close relationship they had, she had hidden her love away since the day she found him washed up on the beach. Well, she thought to herself, things are different now. No more disrespect, no more horny jackasses pinching my butt, no more condescending old men...

But something in her mind was arguing. You were better off before, it said. You're living in a fantasy world. This is just a pathetic cry for help by a frightened little girl. Just go back to being a politician, you'll never make it as a soldier.

"No," she countered out loud, "I'm happy now. This job, these people, and him...everything is right. This is what it should be. Besides, as a politician, all I could do to vent was to squeeze that little sandbag. Now, I'm paid to shoot at people." Chuckling at that last comment, she pulled the familiar navy jacket on over the olive green blouse and scooped up her car keys. Resolving to pick up a bite to eat on the way to work, she headed out. As she walked through the parking lot towards her car, she couldn't contain the almost wicked smile that spread across her face. The car in question was a sporty, sleek, cherry-red number that she had gotten in a rather unusual way. When Zechs had realized that he would need a larger vehicle for his larger family, he had sold Relena his sports car so she'd have something to drive. Climbing inside, she started the electric motor up with a soft purr and headed off.

Glancing down at her radio's clock, Relena saw that it was 7:42. Then she saw the gridlock on the main roads and groaned. Couldn't this stupid colony go a single day without a traffic jam? "That's it, I'm taking the secret way to work." Pulling off from the morass, she started down the series of side streets that she had learned to use in such cases. As she turned onto Fifth Street, she saw a man carrying an elecar's power cell. Deciding to play the Good Samaritan, she pulled up next to him.

"Need a ride to the service station?" she asked.

The man nodded, his annoyance apparent before he ever said a word. "Yeah, I have a meeting with the boss today to discuss getting a raise, and my car dies. Sometimes I wonder if the world has it out for me."

The young woman smiled. "I know that feeling. C'mon, I'll get you there."

The man sat in the passenger seat, holding the cell in his lap. The service station was only about five minutes away, but to expect someone to walk the distance twice and still get in to work on time was madness. Relena sighed. If she ended up late, she'd just explain the situation to Lady Une. It wasn't like they would fire her for being helpful, right?

After picking up a new cell, they drove back to the man's car. Allowing her ego to get the better of her, Relena smirked when she saw the well-worn luxury sedan. Not everyone could have a sweet ride like hers. Stopping the car, she got out to help the man install the new power cell.

"Well," she said, "that ought to do it."

The man sighed in relief. "Thank you. You have no idea how much easier this makes things for me."

"No...problem?" Relena headed back for her car, confused by that last comment. Something felt wrong about the way he said "easier"... What did that mean?

Then she felt a sharp prick in her neck. She tried to see what it was, but a pair of strong hands forced her into a car as she felt the world grow sluggish and blurry. Before she even had time to curse her own carelessness, she was unconscious.

* * *

"Wait, Howard! I changed my mind!" 

Heero rolled his eyes as Duo ran by the break room, clutching a piece of paper firmly in his hand. He wondered how many times the braided boy had changed his Gundam's design. Probably more than he changed his underwear, he thought with a snide smirk.

"How many times has he altered that thing?" Trowa asked into the silence that fell after the sound of Maxwell's footsteps faded away.

Wu Fei let out a derisive snort as he sipped his coffee. "Probably more than he changes his underwear."

After a second, the two of them both looked at Heero, who was leaning against the wall and looking listless. He snapped out of his reverie when he realized that he was being scrutinized. "Uh, yeah?"

"You just missed a prime opportunity to take a potshot at Maxwell. Are you feeling okay?" inquired Wu Fei.

Heero looked at the clock. It was 11:53. "Yeah, I'm fine." Without saying anything else, he started off for his office. But ever persistent, Trowa and Zhang followed.

Trowa was the first to say anything. "Care to talk about it?"

"...She's late."

"Give the girl a break," Wu Fei replied. "She's only human. Maybe she felt like staying home. Maybe she felt sick."

The Perfect Soldier shook his head. "She would have called. Besides, she usually wakes up at about seven. Here it is, almost noon, and I haven't heard a word from her. I think I have the right to be worried," he finished as he opened the door to his office.

Wu Fei glanced up at the ceiling and saw a veritable army of pencils sticking out of the corkboard panels. "You need a hobby. Or maybe a solitaire program on your computer."

Not saying anything else, Heero sat down at his desk. His two companions paused as they tried to think of something to say, but came up with nothing. They turned to leave, only to almost literally run into...

"Zechs?" the three Gundam pilots asked together.

The former OZ ace nodded to his three former rivals. "Lady Une's called a meeting. She says there's something important we all have to see."

Trowa looked at Heero. "Shall we?"

"Go ahead," he replied, "I'll catch up." As the three left the room, Heero started really worrying.

* * *

With an annoyed groan, Nichol glared at the lunchtime traffic that was keeping him from getting back to work. Right now, the last thing he needed was to come in late again. As much as he hated his job, it was preferable to having no job at all. Now he almost regretted going a few blocks away to go to the Night Owl Café for his own lunch. Like the boss would need any excuse to fire him, considering the way the crippled Alliance veteran looked down on him for being a former OZ officer. 

Just as the sign lit up with the image of a stick figure walking, a slick black limousine pulled up to the curb, blocking the crosswalk. The other people waiting to cross with Nichol threw curses at the limo's driver, whether or not he heard them. One of the passengers' windows rolled down, but nobody stuck his head out. Instead, all that came from inside was a disembodied voice. "Lieutenant Nichol Cage?"

Nichol let out an angry grunt. "Sorry, wrong guy."

But the voice persisted. "No, you're him. I recognize the temper. Get in."

"Look, whoever you are, I'm not about to lose my job just because some rich snot in a limo wants to exchange pleasantries with me. Now if you'll excuse me..."

The door opened, blocking his path and revealing a man with swept-back blonde hair and ice-blue eyes. "Just get in. I guarantee you won't regret it."

"I don't even know why I'm doing this..." Feeling as if he weren't in control of his own body, Nichol slid into the limousine and took a seat across from the man, who wore an expensive Italian suit. The limo started up and rolled down the road. For his part, the former OZ lieutenant folded his arms across his chest. "Well?"

The blonde man offered Nichol a cigarette, but he declined, so he just lit one for himself. He rolled the flavorful smoke around in his mouth before letting it out through his nose. "Before we begin, a question. We all know that OZ lost the Eve War not to White Fang, but to those Gundam brats. Why do you think that was?"

Nichol sighed as he looked out the window, watching the people on the street. "If you ask me, it was because we had a leader like that antiquated Treize Khushrenada. Thinking that we should give those little brats a fair chance...we were fighting a war, not having a friendly game of polo," he said, placing a mocking tone on the last part. "He and his supporters really got on my nerves with their noblesse oblige attitude."

"And I agree wholeheartedly," the blonde man said with a smile. "To them, the whole goddamn war was nothing more than a fencing match. And you, my friend, were one of the few with the foresight to fight the war intelligently. You were court martialed for attempting to fire on Lady Une, but I know the truth. I know that was the only way to deal with the former Alliance soldiers hiding out at D123. I also know that you were the only one who didn't trust those pampered little brats in Prize to take care of MO-V. If we had listened to you, odds are we would have had weapons which would have exceeded the Gundams."

That last part caught Nichol off-guard. "How do you know about that? The only person who knows anything about that is Lowe Sernan, and he's..."

"...With Preventer now, along with Zechs Marquise, Rosshe Natono and even Lady Une. So how fair is it that the one OZ soldier who actually tried to fight the Gundams correctly is now stocking the shelves at a warehouse club with a former Alliance man holding the whip, while the people who couldn't see past the ends of their noses are in charge of protecting the world? If you ask me, it's proof positive that there's no justice in the world."

Nichol shook his head. "Friend, you just put words to everything I've felt for the past four years. But there's nothing I can do about it."

The smile that crossed the blonde man's face would have looked at home on a shark's. "There is. I'm reviving OZ. None of this Regency romance novel bullshit that Treize and his buddies force-fed us. My OZ is going to be a real military, with the weapons and the will to take charge where the Alliance failed. And I want a smart, level-headed man like you working for me."

"You speak nicely enough, but how do I know you're telling the truth," the former lieutenant said as he scrutinized the man making him such a tantalizing offer. Nichol was reminded of the old phrase, If it looks too good to be true...

But at the same time, there was something distinctly familiar about this man's face. He had platinum blonde hair, combed back with all but two thin strands falling over his forehead. His face was square-jawed and masculine. But the most distinctive feature was without a doubt his eyes. The pure blue orbs had, when you looked deep into them, a distinctly malevolent glare, the same hooded glare that a bird of prey sent the poor, defenseless little creature it was swooping down upon. Then he noticed that the man had ever-so-slightly forked eyebrows...

The mystery man continued on, unabated. "I promise I'm telling the truth, because..."

Ten minutes later, the limo dropped Nichol off in front of the warehouse club where he worked. He stopped and turned to shake hands with the blonde man. "What do I do first?"

"Just wait. You'll receive an Email from 'Prince' in a couple of days with instructions. But if you'll excuse me, I have some other business to attend to." The door slammed shut and drove off, making its way back into the traffic-choked streets. With new resolve, Nichol headed into the building. He was going to go in there and tell Anderson to shove it, because now he had a much better job: revenge.

* * *

Lady Une looked around the room expectantly. She looked twice more, as if her eyes had missed something initially, but she didn't seem to find what she was looking for. "Would someone be kind enough to tell me where Void and Lightning are?" 

"Heero said he would catch up," Trowa said with an expectant glance towards the door. "As for Relena, we think she's staying home sick today."

The Preventer commander sighed. "Well, we can't be expected to wait around all day. Howard?"

With a smile, the Hawaiian-shirted man popped a disc into the computer at his seat and started searching it. "Could someone get the lights?" When Duo turned the dimmer down, he opened a file. The ceiling-mounted projector flared to life, displaying a Mobile Suit's design schematics on the screen set into the wall. Leaning back in his chair, Howard smiled. "Anyone care to take a guess at what this is?"

Rosshe leaned forward in his seat to get a better look. "The basic body shape resembles the Geminass, but that head..."

"...The head looks more like the Earth Federation's GM series, or the Atlantic Alliance's Dagger series," finished Zechs. "Are you trying to tell us that..."

Grinning, Howard cut him off. "...This, boys and girls, is the GG-01MS Gunguard. As you may have guessed, it's a mass production version of the Gundam. More specifically, it's a mass produced G-Unit. While its standard form is fine for dealing with anything that might come up in the course of a Preventer's job, the Gunguard has been designed to be equipped with various mission packs, based off of your Gundams, that let it specialize in specific forms of combat."

As he continued speaking, the old engineer pressed the Enter key, cycling though images of the different variations. "There's the space-use Gemini Gunguard, the ground combat Sand Gunguard, the aerial Wing - which is actually based off of both Wing and L.O. Booster - Wing Gunguard, the amphibious Lapius Gunguard, the assault-type Heavy Gunguard, the stealth/sniper Scythe Gunguard, and the close combat Dragon Gunguard. We hope that these machines ought to put us on a more equal footing with the new Virgos."

At this point, Wu Fei spoke up. "How are we going to make these machines? The Gundanium we requisitioned was only enough to upgrade our Gundams and to build Mrs. Zero."

Lady Une chuckled at the unofficial nickname for Relena's Gundam. "You're right. Well, since it's not such a good idea to use Serpents against machines that are completely invulnerable to ranged weapons, I've ordered the other branches to liquidate their Serpents and use the Neo-Titanium for the armor materials. It's not as good as Gundanium, but it's much more economical and it's what we have handy. Besides, Doctor Howard insists that it won't matter."

"Indeed it won't," he continued. "Taking a page from the Gundam engineers' book, the Gunguard's shield integrates Planet Defensor technology, giving them the same degree of protection that Deathscythe's wings offer it. It'll have to do."

Trowa chose that moment to speak up. "What about Sandrock? I know Quatre's retired from piloting..."

"Actually," Lady Une interrupted, "when he heard about the UN Senate granting us the materials we requested, he called up and said that if we needed him, he'd be more than willing to help. In fact, he already sent along a design for the new Sandrock, based off of some of the historical data."

Duo laughed leaned back in his chair. "Seems ironic...the latest, most advanced MS the world has ever seen are going to be relying on tech that hasn't seen action for several hundred years."

Before anyone could reply, the distinctive buzz of a cell phone vibrating broke in. An annoyed look on his face, Zechs reached into his pants pocket and pulled out his phone. Quickly apologizing to his co-workers, he flipped it open and said "Hello."

There was a tense pause as everyone saw Zechs' face grow confused. "I'm sorry, officer, but that's not my car. I sold it to..."

The realization struck him at the same instant it came to Trowa and Wu Fei. Zechs slapped the phone shut. "The sports car's anti-theft system has been activated. Something must have happened to Relena."

Jumping to his feet, Duo started for the door. "I gotta stop Heero before he does something stupid!"

"Don't bother," Wu Fei said as he rose from his chair. "He's already gone."

* * *

The first thing Relena heard upon waking up was the sound of footsteps echoing through an empty room. She could feel the rope binding her hands behind her back, as well as the blindfold covering her eyes, blocking her vision. As the sound of a pair of mens' voices became distinct, she lowered her head and pretended to be unconscious. 

As the footsteps stopped, she could tell that the two men were standing over her. Suddenly, a hand grabbed her by her ponytail and jerked her head up as another hand pulled the blindfold off. Quickly adjusting to the light, she realized that she was in what looked like an abandoned warehouse, with only a little light streaming in through a cracked window. The two men were wearing battered camouflage fatigues and each had a pistol belted on his waist. The blonde-haired man, who was the one holding Relena's ponytail, laughed. "It's funny...Preventers act like they own the whole damn planet, but when you bring them down a couple of notches, they're as useless as babies."

Relena, despite the pain, rolled her eyes. "Does beating on a weak little girl with her arms and legs bound make you feel like a big man, or are you just a total dick?"

With an angry growl, the blonde man grabbed her by her throat and started squeezing. "You do NOT wanna piss me off. I lost my brother to you little bastards, and I'm not about to miss an opportunity like this..."

"Coward..." Relena managed to cough out. "You're doing this because you know I could beat you in a fair fight."

The man glared at her for a second, then pulled out a knife and began cutting the ropes that bound her. His partner tried to stop him, but the first man shoved him aside.

"You're crazy! If the boss finds out..." said the other man.

"To hell with that bleeding-heart case!" yelled the first. "He doesn't understand what it's like to lose a family member."

Relena shook her head. "Look, I'm sorry about your brother, but if he hadn't taken up arms in the name of a misguided cause..."

"Shut up, you little...!" The man wheeled on her, hand flying towards her face for a slap.

Her hand flashed up and stopped his in mid-flight. "And now it begins."

She thrust her knee upwards, impacting with the man's stomach. He doubled over, giving her the perfect opportunity to knee him straight in the nose. Clutching at his now-broken member, he stumbled backwards. Leaping out of the chair, Relena rolled forward and performed a foot sweep that sent the man onto his back. Without losing any momentum, she landed the hard rubber heel of her shoe on his solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him. Turning, she looked at the second man.

"I really don't want to fight you," he said as he held up his hands placatingly.

"I understand," she replied, "but I'll still have to knock you out to make sure you don't go running to tell your boss."

"Too late, I'm afraid."

Relena and the second soldier turned in perfect unison. Standing in the doorway was a man in his late forties or early fifties, whose scruffy brown hair hid brown eyes and a handsome, angular face. He drew a pistol from his hip holster and leveled it at her. "Nothing personal, miss, but I'm just doing my job. I'm afraid this guy here," he said with a nod towards the unconscious soldier, "disobeyed orders, and I'm very sorry for that. We actually have a room prepared for you."

That was one of the last things she expected to hear. "Wait, you said..."

"...That we have a room for you," he answered with a nod. "I may be kidnaping you, but I certainly don't get any jollies torturing a young woman. If you'll come this way..."

The still-conscious soldier looked over at his companion. "What about...?"

The boss looked over at Relena's would-be assassin and frowned as if he had bitten into a lemon. "We'll deal with him later. For now, leave him."

The two men, using their guns to keep her in line, lead Relena to another section of the warehouse. The leader opened a door that was marked "Supervisor" and nodded for her to enter. When she did, Relena saw that the room had been made over into a semi-comfortable environment, complete with a bed, nightstand, table, and a door that presumably lead to a bathroom. After following her into the room, the man closed the door behind him. "There's something I'd like to talk to you about," he said as he reholstered his gun.

Pulling out the chair at the table, Relena sat down and nodded. "And that is?"

The man smiled. "It's been too long, Princess. How are you?"

* * *

With an angry yell, Heero threw the overall-clad man across the warehouse and into a pile of empty steel drums. As the clanging subsided, he could still hear the man faintly groaning. Hurrying over to the pile, the Perfect yanked him out by the collar of his shirt and flung him against a new white car that was nearby. Still running on adrenaline, he went over, grabbed the man by the neck and started squeezing. 

"That was strike two. One more and I really get pissed."

The man stammered as blood streamed down his face. "Look, I don't know nothin'! We found the car on the side of the road and picked it up, that's all!"

The Preventer didn't even need his psychic powers to tell that the man was lying. "Do I even have to say it? That was..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Heero could sense a heavy object descending towards his head. Partly blinded by rage, he only managed to turn around before it hit. The thick bottle shattered against the side of his head, sending glass shards in every direction and making him drop the mechanic. Staggered, he stumbled away from the two men as he heard the sound of a gun cocking. "You're in over your head, kid."

A gun went off, but nothing happened. Recovering from his daze, Heero saw the gunman holding his hand and looking at the door to the warehouse. A familiar voice came from the figure silhouetted by the light. "No, I'd say you boys are."

Before the second gunman could do anything, the figure dashed in and nailed him with a jumping kick, sending him sprawling. The man Heero had been squeezing for info started to make a run for it, but the figure scooped up a nearby wrench and threw it like a boomerang, nailing the mechanic in the back and knocking him down. After securing the two men with zipties and making sure that they weren't going anywhere, Duo went over and offered his hand. "Nice performance. I'd give it a 10 for complete bad-assery, but about a 1.2 for cleverness."

Still fuming, Heero swatted the braided boy's hand away and stood on his own. "Go screw yourself."

"No thanks, it's more fun when you can share the joy with someone else," came Duo's flippant reply.

"I didn't ask for your help OR your lip," Heero continued. "I don't need either." Without so much as a backwards glance, he stalked towards the door.

The self-proclaimed Grim Reaper sighed and shook his head. "I'll regret this in the morning," he thought to himself. Then, after steeling himself, he grabbed Heero by the shoulder, spun him around, and threw a punch that connected solidly with his chin. Despite the lackadaisical attitude Duo usually showed around the office, he did in fact work out regularly; a fact that Heero learned first-hand when the blow threatened to break his jaw.

Recovering quickly, the young soldier grabbed his friend by the jacket and slammed him against the nearest object, which happened to be a workbench covered with tools. "What the hell is your problem!"

In the past, Duo would probably have quailed under a glare like that. Right now, however, he had a damn good reason to stand firm. "The only problem I have right now is that one of my friends is acting like a complete and total asshead, and I'm going to have to be the one to tell the woman who loves him that he got killed by some street thug with a switchblade."

Stunned at the notion that Duo would actually stand up to him, Heero let go of his jacket and took a couple of steps back. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Fixing his jacket, Duo glared at his fellow Preventer. "Look at yourself...you're running around the colony, acting like a bad comic book character. You seem to think that you're the only one who cares or can do anything, but you've obviously forgotten that you're part of a team, and that we're all out here just like you...the only difference is that we haven't resorted to dangling people off of buildings to get our information."

Heero grunted unhappily. "I don't have time for this. Relena's in danger, and if you're going to waste my time with this crap..."

Shaking his head, Duo grabbed Heero's shoulder and held up his other hand, displaying a gold wedding band. "I understand what you're going through. If somebody grabbed Hilde, I'd probably be doing what you're doing right now. The difference is that people EXPECT me to do stupid things. You're the level-headed one, so why in God's name aren't you acting it! If you keep on like this, then you aren't going to do her any good. What you need to do right now isn't to beat the snot out of anyone you think has information, you need to start acting like your old self a little more."

For several seconds, nothing happened. Heero felt something warm running down his temple. Reaching a hand over, he touched the area, then pulled it back in surprise and pain. His fingers came away with blood on them. He thought back and realized that he had almost died. His anger vanished like a shadow at noon. All of a sudden, he felt something else; an icy sensation in the pit of his belly. Chills wracked his spine. It took him a minute to realize that he was afraid. "I..."

Duo set a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Hey, I don't mean that you should become Mister Emotionless or anything, just that you ought to step back and look at things more rationally."

"That's not it," Heero said slowly. "I'm...scared."

Those two words were enough to make the Braided Death jump, letting out one of his trademark noises of surprise. "You're scared?"

Taking a slow breath, Heero nodded. "I am. I'm scared that I'll never see her again and that it'll be all my fault."

"Don't worry about that," Duo said as he recovered from his initial shock. "That's one thing that everyone who's ever been in love feels at one time or another. The thing that makes you one of the luckiest bastards in the Earth sphere is that the woman you're talking about is so totally head-over-heels for you that you never have to worry about losing her. Right now, though, she's waiting for you to go and help her out. So quit acting nuts and go."

Slowly, Heero nodded. "Yeah. Just...do me a favor first?"

Something sprang back into Duo's mind, making him wince. "You're not going to hit me, are you?"

"No, I deserved that one. Just pass a message along to Lady Une. Tell her that I think Dorothy might be involved somehow."

Duo blinked in surprise. "Dorothy?"

"I know it may seem unrealistic, but she's the only Romafeller connection we have, and after Dekim lost, she basically went into seclusion. It may sound like a witch hunt, but right now we don't have much to go on."

"Yeah, I get you." Putting a hand in his jacket pocket, Duo handed Heero an earpiece. "You may need this. Good luck out there."

As he headed out of the warehouse, Heero looked over his shoulder. "I don't believe in luck, remember?" Not waiting for a response, he walked out and started his search anew.

* * *

Relena looked at the older man and found herself completely stunned. "Excuse me? Do I know you?" 

The man feigned injury, stumbling back against the wall. "That hurts. It really does. You don't remember your old Uncle Ken?"

"Uncle?" the young woman said in surprise.

"Well, not literally," the man answered. "We're not blood relations, but my family was so close to yours that you treated me and my wife like we were."

This conversation was really getting to Relena. She had that odd deja vu feeling in the back of her head, so she didn't doubt the man's veracity. However, she would have known if there were someone who were that close to her. But then something else came into her head. "I think I know why I don't remember...when I was seven, I slipped and hit my head on the side of the bathtub. The doctors were afraid that I might have suffered brain damage from it, but they couldn't confirm anything."

The man nodded slowly. "I see."

Smiling, Relena continued. "But I do believe you. I can tell that you're not lying. So please, could you remind me?"

"Anything you say, sweetie," the man said. "The name's Kenji Nakajima, and for about ten years, I lived in the same neighborhood as the Darlians. The wife and I had a daughter named Hitomi who was a couple of years older than you, and a son named Rei who was about your age." Here, he smiled. "In fact, you two were so close that we all thought you'd end up married."

Relena felt something there. She remembered a pretty seven-year old girl with flowing brown hair, and a young boy with swept-back blonde hair and...no. She shook her head. That wasn't right. For some reason, she couldn't place an accurate image on this child whom she had once been so friendly with.

"Anyway, when you were five, I got transferred to a job in the colonies, so we had to move." Here, Kenji's face hardened. "But things didn't go so well. There was an engine failure and the shuttle exploded. I woke up in a hospital a week later. They said there were no other survivors."

"I'm so sorry," Relena said as she reached out and held his hand.

"There's more to it than that," he said. "It took me a long time, but I figured out that the whole thing was planned."

Relena shivered. "Who would do something like that?"

"Dekim Barton."

She let out an annoyed sigh. "I should have known. I guess you heard that I had my own little encounter with him."

Ken nodded. "Yeah. The old man loved getting revenge, even if it took decades. See, I stumbled across the plans for Operation Meteor a long time before it was ever carried out. When he found out, he reassured me that it was just the mad ranting of someone fixated on revenge, who he had fired and reported to the authorities. For a long time, I believed him. Then I learned the truth, but it was too late. After the explosion, I was told that it was Alliance sabotage, so I became a member of a rebel group. I spent years trying to pay them back for my family's deaths, but the whole time I was playing into his hands."

"I know how you feel," Relena said as she tried to get comfortable.

After a second, he brightened. "So, what about you? Where have you been all this time?"

As she opened her mouth to reply, the door to the room opened and the soldier who hadn't tried to hurt her leaned in. "Sir, our contact wants to talk."

Giving Relena a wan smile, Ken stood and headed for the door. "Sorry, business calls. I'll get back to you in a minute, okay?"

"Alright," she said with a nod. As the door closed, she leaned back on the bed. Even if this was a kidnaping, she felt a lot safer now.

* * *

Kenji sat down at the computer terminal and prepared for the worst. From the second he had taken the job to kidnap Lightning, he had had a bad feeling about the guy who ordered the job. It wasn't that he did his best to hide his identity; that was understandable. What bothered him was... 

"Do you have the girl?" said his employer, displayed on a video chat window. The lights in the room were dim and he had a voice mask applied, making it nearly impossible to figure out who he was.

Slowly, Ken nodded. "Yeah, I have her. What do you want with her, anyway?"

"Didn't I say 'no questions asked'," the man said quickly. "All you have to know is that there are personal reasons."

"I'd feel a lot better if I knew that nothing bad was going to happen to the girl."

"And I'd feel a lot better if you'd shut up and do your job. Also, there's one little thing..."

That caught Ken's attention. "Yes?"

"As I'm sure you'll know, Preventer will be trying to rescue her. I don't care about any of the others, but Void...if you capture him and bring him to me along with Lightning, you'll get a big bonus."

Ken could feel the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. There was something about this that bothered him. "What's he look like?"

A picture flashed up on screen, showing a young man with tousled brown hair and blue eyes that showed steely resolve. Instantly, Kenji knew his answer.

"No."

The picture faded, showing his employer once more. "What was that?"

"The deal is off," Ken said as he crossed his arms across his chest. "I've been doing things for people like you for too long. Now you want me to hurt a couple of people who never did anything to me, and you aren't giving any good reasons. As near as I can tell, you're just some nutcase who wants something he can't have."

The shadowy man gritted his teeth. "I wanted to do things smoothly, but you leave me no choice. I will get the girl one way or another. This just means that I get to hold on to my money, and that you're going to regret this for the rest of your short life." He cut the connection then, forcing the privilege of the last word.

* * *

Heero felt uneasy as the pressurized doors leading from L1-S5406's docking bay to the main colony center. He hated to have to rely upon such sketchy information, especially when someone as important as Relena was on the line...but with so little information, it was the best he had. Preventer's records showed a high number of shuttles headed from L1-O8424, where HQ was located, to here; many had departure times that would allow the kidnappers to escape shortly after the projected time of abduction. Internally, he realized that singling out this colony because there were many shuttles heading to it made little sense; they were just as likely to head to any other colony, near or far. Right now he was just relying upon gut instinct. Using such a cover made logical sense, and his mental abilities had been sending him definite signals. He really didn't like trusting something so empherical, but that was what he had. 

Pulling out his standard-issue PDA, he pulled out a map of the colony and began looking for possible hiding places. Heero had at one time or another been to every colony built, but after a while, the residential ones just ran together in his mind, especially if they lacked some distinct feature. S5404, however, was noted for being a transit hub. Most major travel between colonies, or from Earth to the colonies, were routed through this place. The constant activity would provide a good cover, so he figured that the likelihood of the kidnappers having gone here just jumped up a few notches. He was starting to feel better about his hunch now.

Just as he spotted an industrial area that was purportedly abandoned due to the recession, his danger sense went off. The doors to the port opened, revealing a set of rather threatening-looking men. It didn't take a genius to realize that they all probably carried concealed weapons. Even if he hadn't caught on, they pulled out their guns the second they saw his Preventer jacket. Pulling his own gun, he ran for the nearby parking lot as bullets ricocheted off the ground behind him. One of the men cried out, "That's the one! Take him alive or the boss will have our asses on a platter!"

Not stopping to dwell on that thought, Heero saw a man getting ready to board a motorcycle. He dashed over and grabbed the man's arm. "I need this. Call Preventer and we'll reimburse you." Thinking this over for a second, the man nodded dumbly and handed over the keys and helmet. Pausing to put the helmet on and zip up his jacket, Heero turned the engine on and roared off down the road. He didn't think that he'd be alone for long.

After five minutes of riding, he stopped and pulled out the PDA again. It would take him a few minutes to get to the industrial park, but he had a good feeling; this was it. He started off again, and none too soon; he felt that feeling run through his mind again. Looking in the rear-view mirror, he saw a pair of cars racing towards him, swerving in and out of traffic and driving other cars off the road. Several men leaned out of the windows and opened up on him with pistols and machineguns. Heero swerved and darted, attempting to dodge. He muttered a curse when one bullet impacted his left shoulder and another burned by his right side. Unzipping his jacket slightly, he reached inside and withdrew his own pistol before firing off a couple of shots to make the gunmen put their heads down. They reacted just like he expected, allowing him to take careful aim and shoot out the front two tires in the lead car. Turning his attention back to the road, he hit a turn and kept on, hoping that both cars would stop.

One minute later, he got the strongest danger warning he had ever felt. Looking in the rear-view, he saw the second car still following, and a man leaning out of the rear window, a grenade launcher on his shoulder.

"Shit."

* * *

Relena peeled back the silver wrapper and took a bite of her sandwich. The nicer of the two rebels - whose name turned out to be Darick, had offered to go out and pick her up some food. Deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth, she had asked him to go to her favorite burger place and pick up a chicken, bacon and Swiss sandwich with curly fries and a lemon-lime soda. He returned pretty promptly, but he was staying in the room to watch her. 

"You know," she said after she swallowed the first bite, "you don't have to act like I'm going to run. Despite what your friend thought, I'm not stupid."

The young man smiled wanly. "I know, but orders are orders. Besides, I wanted to make sure that I got everything right."

Relena smiled back as she chewed another bite. "Don't worry, you did. And if you don't mind my saying so, this is possibly the nicest kidnaping I've ever been a part of."

Darick shrugged, a little nervously she thought. "Have you really been kidnaped that often?"

"Well, not really, but this is the nicest one."

As he opened his mouth to reply, the door opened. Ken stepped in, looking about as grim as Relena had ever seen anyone looking. Underscoring his displeasure was the fact that he now had a submachinegun slung across his shoulder. He motioned to her. "Come on, let's go."

Taking a second to wipe her mouth, Relena stood. "Are you taking me to whoever hired you now?"

"Actually, no. I'm letting you go."

"What!" The confused sentiment came simultaneously from both Relena and Darick.

Ken shook his head. "Let's just say that I had a disagreement with our employer. I cancelled the contract, but he's going to be sending his men to take you and kill us."

Slowly, Relena shook her head. "What's this all about?"

"I wish I could tell you," he replied, "but he made sure to keep everything a secret. All I know is that he wanted you captured, as well as your friend, Void."

"Heero?" She felt a cold shiver run down her spine. "Why would that person want him?"

Ken shrugged heavily. "Judging by his attitude when he asked, it seems like revenge. Has your boy done anything really bad?"

"Well...he's a Gundam pilot," she said through gritted teeth.

"Ow. I see." Looking outside quickly, he nodded to her. "Well, either way, we ought to get you out of here right away. You can use my car."

As Relena headed for the door, she got that feeling again. Ken seemed to catch on immediately and went out first, his weapon ready. Listening carefully, the sound of faint footfalls came from the east side of the warehouse. Grunting, he leveled his weapon towards the boxes scattered there and began firing. After only a brief burst, he ducked back inside the room. Clearing his throat, he yelled out to the unseen assailant. "You're too late, we already let her go. Guess your boss is shit outta luck."

"Then you're going to tell me where she is, or you'll live to regret it."

Relena gasped. She shook her head at Ken, then went out into the warehouse. "Heero, it's me. Everything is safe. Come on out."

Slowly, a slim figure rose from behind the boxes. He was worn, beaten and a bit bloody; his jacket and slacks were torn, and he was panting slowly. She instantly ran over and embraced him, but soon after pulled back and looked him over. "What did you get yourself into this time?"

Heero grunted. "Being shot at hurts. Having a grenade shot at a motorcycle you're riding hurts even more."

Ken stepped into the room, laughing softly. By instinct, Heero pointed his gun at the older man. "Well, I'll give you one thing, you Gundam pilots are as tough as they say. And you don't have to threaten me with that, I'm going to let you take her away."

Of all the things a kidnapper could have done, that was possibly the last thing Heero expected. "What? Why are you doing that?"

"Well firstly, you can drop the innocent act. I already know who she really is. Regardless, I'm an old family friend, and I value friends over creepy weirdos, even if they're paying me."

Heero nodded slowly. "So you're just going to let us get away? You know what they'll do to you."

"Yeah, I know..." Looking down, Ken shook his head. "Well, I guess it's retribution for everything I've done over the years." He stopped and handed Relena the keys to his car. "Here, get out of here."

Relena nodded and ran off. Heero lingered, staring at the older man. "You should come with us. They'll kill you if they catch you."

"Yeah, well, I'm an old man. You two are still young, so you have a lot more to live for." He reached over and patted Heero's shoulder. "But I except you to take care of her and keep her safe and happy, okay?"

Still looking unsatisfied, he started off, but turned back and looked at Ken. "You'd better not die, you hear me?"

"I'll do my best. If I make it out, you'll be seeing me again." He reloaded his machinegun, then looked back to Heero. "If I don't...I'll tell them that you're alright."

After a frozen minute, Heero smiled. "Take care, old man." He turned and headed off

Ken watched him go, then headed back to get ready. "You too, kid."

Heero got into the car and started it up immediately. When he started off, Relena looked back in surprise. After several silent minutes, she finally said something. "Why are we leaving him behind?"

"Because he asked me to," Heero replied.

"No, that doesn't work. He's an old family friend and I refuse to leave him behind."

Never taking his eyes off the road, he continued. "That man will be sending his men after us. He offered to keep them busy so that we could get away."

Relena felt herself getting angry. She reached over and grabbed his arm. "You don't seem to get it. He's..."

Heero's eyes narrowed. "I know damn well who he is, and it doesn't make this any easier."

"How can you do this to him," she asked as the shock she felt began creeping into her voice.

"Because that's what he wanted." As the car pulled to a stop at the spaceport, he looked into her eyes. "He promised he'd make it out alive, and I believe him. I have to."

Silently, they got out of the car. She had a feeling that things would be very different from this moment on.

* * *

Clucking between her teeth, Sally finished bandaging the last of Heero's injuries. "I don't know how you do it, but you do it. Maybe you could give lessons to the rookies." 

"There's a difference between being able to withstand pain and actually liking it," he said matter-of-factly.

"Point taken," she said with a faint laugh. "Well, there's nothing major, so you can go home if you like."

On the other side of the room, Lady Une listened as Relena finished explaining the situation. However, as she and Heero had agreed to leave out the biggest details regarding Kenji. When she finished the story, Une nodded. "It's too bad that we couldn't learn more about this mystery man. It would be convenient if he were the one behind the new Virgos, but that's probably too much to ask for. Still, we're going to have to be very careful from now on. If it's not too much to ask, I'd prefer it if you two didn't split up like that again." She stopped and smiled. "But for now, you two ought to get home and get some sleep. After everything you've been through, you deserve it."

"Thanks," Relena said. Heading over to Heero, she took his hand and lead him out of the medical room. On their way out, they passed by an older woman with straight black hair. She looked back at them in surprise. "Say, Reiko...maybe you ought to have Heero stay here tonight."

Relena shook her head. "Thanks, Kirika, but I'd feel better if I took care of him myself. I'm sure you understand."

"I guess so." The older woman watched as the pair left, then went back to her own office. Activating a hidden program on the computer, she typed in a quick message: UNABLE TO KEEP VOID IN BUILDING. After sending it, she shut the computer down and got ready to go home.

* * *

On the Senate floor, the man felt his cellphone buzz. Pulling it out, he looked at the window and frowned. Well, you can't win them all, he rationalized. Besides, it would allow him the pleasure of dealing with Yuy personally. Hearing the Vice President begin to wind down, he knew that it was nearly time. A cursory glance of the room revealed that everyone was there. He nodded to the guards standing near either door out of the chamber; they nodded in reply and stepped outside. Slowly, he rose to his feet and started down to the main platform. The Vice President noticed him and banged his gavel. "Mister Williams, please be seated." 

David ignored him; if he was going to do this, he was going to get to vent first. Stepping up to the podium, he pushed the Vice President aside, knocking him on his rear. The senators began muttering under their breath at the sight of the young firebrand acting so brashly. He was sick enough of them before, and this certainly didn't help matters.

"Oh, shut up, you overinflated windbags."

That got their attention. The senators quieted down, but they glared angrily at him. He ran his fingers through his slicked-back blonde hair before continuing. "Please, spare me your inane mumbling. I've had to put up with this bureaucratic bullshit for years, and I'm sick of it. Do you want to know why nothing ever gets done around here? It's because you're all too busy caring about your own fat pensions and your own fat asses. It's pretty sad, but I'd expect as much. After all, you were elected democratically by a bunch of people who have no idea of what a decent leader is. Otherwise, they wouldn't have shut Romafeller down in the first place."

That started the senators up again. David glared at them; getting rid of them would be really, REALLY enjoyable. "Give it a rest. And don't give me that 'we're morally superior' bullshit. I know about the secret slush funds, the under-the-table dealings, the mistresses in posh hotel rooms...this pointless little exercise in futility is just proof that real leaders are born, not made. You've just proven that the sheep of the world need a strong hand to guide them, which makes me feel all the better about my decision. Just to summarize, I'm quitting. And nothing could make me happier than never seeing any of your wrinkled, putrid old faces ever again. So get stuffed and go to hell, okay?"

As the senators attempted to protest, David walked briskly out of the room. Closing the doors behind himself, he looked back at the guard. With a grin, the large man wrapped heavy chains around the handles and padlocked them in place. The security radio on his shoulder crackled to life as a man's voice came from the other end. "We're secure here. Sounds like they were trying to get out."

David smiled darkly. "That's the idea. Let's go." He and the guard began heading towards the exit. Pulling out his cell, the now-former senator hit the autodial button and got through in seconds. "The lion roars at sunset."

Several seconds later, the sound of an enormous explosion came from behind, rattling the chains that held the door fast. David wondered if it was humanly possible for anyone to feel as much pleasure as he did now.

* * *

Relena snuggled into Heero's shoulder, trying her best not to squeeze any of the wrong places. Since the only reaction Heero gave was one of relaxed happiness, she was pretty sure she had succeeded. Just after getting home, she had wondered if she would even be able to get to sleep; as it turned out, it was a lot easier than she would have imagined. Trying to get all the chaos behind her made for good incentive. 

All at once, she felt a horrendous shock to her system, driving her out of sleep. The surprise left her breathless, sweaty and shaking. Heero sat up slowly next to her, seeming to have had the same shock but handling it better. He took one look at her and caught on instantly. "A large group of people just died."

"Not just that," she said as she finally caught her breath. "It was people I know. I don't know who, or how, but I know that I knew them somehow."

Heero picked the remote control off the nightstand and turned the TV on. Despite the late hour, there were reports of the Senate's destruction. Instinctively, Relena pulled herself closer to Heero when she saw the scenes of burned masonry and smoking ruins. He turned to her and put an arm around her waist. "I never thought you would be sad about that place being destroyed."

"I wasn't happy there anymore," she said slowly. "But I certainly didn't want anything to happen to them, especially that..."

He turned the volume up on the TV, staring intently at the screen. The reporter continued on, stopping to read a new report. "Some witnesses report that the attack came from an unidentified Mobile Suit that disappeared shortly thereaf..."

Heero hit the mute button. He looked at Relena and they nodded to each other. She picked up the phone and dialed quickly. Waiting for the call to connect felt like some of the longest moments of her life, but finally, there was a click as the person picked up.

"Hello?" came Lady Une's voice on the other end of the line, obviously pulled out of a sound sleep.

"It's me. Look, I'm sorry, but this is important. The Senate just got blown up, and it sounds like one of those new model Virgos did it."

"What!" In a matter of seconds, all the sleep vanished from Une's voice.

Relena nodded, forgetting the fact that the motion was wasted. "It looks like he's making his move. I think we need to get out of here right now. If he's smart, he'll lock down the colony to trap us, so we need to evacuate ASAP."

"I understand. I'll give the emergency call right away." She hung up quickly. Several seconds later, their phones buzzed impatiently. Heero went over and began dressing quickly as Relena threw some clothes for both of them into a suitcase. After getting everything together, they hurried outside and jumped into her car. The red sports car raced off for the spaceport, both of its occupants staying nervously quiet. Relena glanced over her shoulder and shuddered. A large distortion appeared in the air next to the Preventer building, slowly resolving itself into the blocky shape of a Virgo. A long beam blade ignited, sprouting from the cannon mounted over its arm. The Mobile Doll reared back before swinging its arm downwards, rending the building asunder. She felt the tears come; even if nobody died, seeing that place go down felt like losing a part of herself. Heero reached over and set a hand on her shoulder. She leaned closer to him, trying to forget the fact that she had just seen the world go to pieces before her eyes.


End file.
